54 BULLETIN 511, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The region is settled mostly by Germans and Bohemians, and many 
of the older inhabitants can hardly speak English. They have excep- 
tionally good country homes. ' This was originally a prairie region, 
and much of the land is still in the original prairie grass, whichis cut 
for hay. 
The average-sized farm surveyed is 210 acres, with only 102 acres 
cultivated. The remaining land is covered with prairie grasses and 
scrub oaks. Most of the fanning is done by the landowners, and little 
labor is hired. The farmers usually have large families and both 
the women and men do every kind of farm work. These people live 
a very happy life and are fairly prosperous. 
The principal crops grown are cotton, corn, prairie-grass hay, and 
sorghum cane. Most of the cane is sown broadcast and cut for hay. 
No definite rotations are practiced. Cotton is usually grown on the 
most productive land. Hardly enough gram is produced to feed the 
farm stock. Very little fruit is produced and only enough truck is 
grown for home use and for local markets. Cattle and hogs are 
grown for home use, but very few are sold. 
Practically the only farm product sold is cotton, and only a very 
small percentage of the food supply is produced on the farm. 
The tillage practices employed with cotton are very uniform. 
Cotton usually follows cotton or corn. Soon after the crops are har- 
vested the old cotton or corn stalks are broken up with a stalk cutter; 
then in the fall or early spring the land is plowed, and as broken it is 
thrown into ridges the desired width apart. The breaking is mostly 
'done with 2-horse turning plows, and four furrows are required for 
each row. A few farmers use a 4-horse middle buster, or lister, and 
only one furrow is given each row. No further preparation is given 
until just before planting, when these beds are harrowed with a spike- 
tooth harrow. 
Cotton is planted from March 15 to April 15. For planting, a 
2-horse 1-row lister planter is used, which tears down the bed and 
plants the cotton almost level. The cotton rows average 3^ feet 
apart and If bushels of seed is planted per acre. After thinning, the 
stalks are left from 12 to 15 inches apart in the drill. 
Cultivation after planting is exceptionally uniform. Every farmer 
uses a 2-horse 4-shovel riding cultivator equipped with small sweeps 
instead of shovels. For the first cultivation small 6-inch or 8-inch 
sweeps are used and are run close to the cotton, but later, after the 
plants develop more, larger sweeps are used and cultivation is not so 
close to the cotton. During the season four or five cultivations are 
given. After the first cultivation the cotton is chopped to a stand 
and again gone over with a hoe at the third or fourth cultivation to 
chop out any weeds or extra stalks of cotton. A few farmers use a 
1-horse sweep and sometimes a 2-horse 2-shovel cultivator is used, 
with sweeps attached instead of shovels. 
