46 BULLETIN 511, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The principal crops grown are cotton, corn, and oats. No defi- 
nite rotations are practiced. About two-thirds of the land is in cot- 
ton annually. Hardly enough corn is produced for home use. What 
oats are produced are fed on the farm and often without thrashing. 
Cowpeas, peanuts, sugar oane, sweet potatoes, fruit, and truck Crops 
are grown for home use. Enough cattle and hogs are kept for home 
use, but little is sold from the farm except cotton. 
In preparing a seed bed for cotton there are two general methods 
employed. By the first method, which is largely employed, the old 
cotton or corn stalks are plowed out with a 2-horse middle buster, 
the fertilizer applied in this furrow, and a bed made on the fertilizer 
with a 1 -horse turning plow. 
Sometimes the land is broken level, the rows laid off with a middle 
buster or broad shovel, the fertilizer applied in this furrow with a 
distributor, and a bed made on the fertilizer with a 1-horse turning 
plow. Four furrows are required for each bed. This plowing is 
done in the early spring. If the old cotton or corn stalks are rank 
they are sometimes cut up with a stalk cutter before breaking the 
land. 
At planting time, if the land is rough these beds are harrowed with 
a spring-tooth harrow. Cotton is planted on the bed with a 1-horse 
1-row planter. The rows average 3| feet apart, and 1^ bushels of 
seed are planted per acre. After thinning, the stalks are left from 
12 to 15 inches apart in the drill. 
For cultivating after planting, 1-horse implements are generally 
employed. Just after the cotton comes up, often a spike-tooth 
harrow is used, and later a 1-horse shovel plow with a sweep attached. 
This implement throws the soil away from the cotton and leaves the 
plants on a small ridge, giving the same effect as barring off with a 
turning plow. Sometimes a turning plow is used for this cultiva- 
tion. After the first cultivation the cotton is chopped to a stand. 
For later cultivations the 1-horse sweep or scrape is used entirely. 
At first 16-inch or 18-inch sweeps are used, and three furrows are 
required for each row. For later cultivations longer sweeps are 
used. During the season live or six cultivations are given and the 
cotton is slightly ridged up during the cultivating. At the third or 
fourth cultivation any extra cotton stalks or weeds are chopped 
out with a hoe. No cover crops are grown and little stable manure 
is produced. Commercial fertilizer is used on every farm. The 
average application per acre for cotton is 312 pounds. 
The principal varieties of cotton grown are Christopher, Russell's 
Big Boll, King's Improved, and Cook's Improved. 
The most prevalent and troublesome weeds are crab-grass, coffee 
weed ; cocklebur, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass, and nut-grass. 
