56 BULLETIN 511, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
for the level land. The soil is mostly sandy loam with a clay subsoil, 
but some clay loam is found. 
The farms are of good size, averaging 241 acres. Each farm is 
usually worked by the owner or by a tenant who is supervised by the 
landowner. Most of the labor is performed by negroes or Mexicans. 
No definite rotations are practiced. The principal crops grown are 
cotton and corn. Oats are grown on many farms and cut for hay 
while the grain is in the dough stage. Cowpeas and peanuts are often 
planted between the corn rows and pastured by cattle and hogs. 
Sweet potatoes and truck crops are grown for home use on almost 
every farm. Some fruit is produced for home supply and for local 
markets. Cattle and hogs .are grown for home use and a few cattle 
are sold. Only enough corn is raised to feed the farm cattle, and 
the farm income is derived almost entirely from the sale of cotton. 
Cotton is usually planted on land which was in corn or cotton the 
previous year. In preparing the seed bed for cotton the old cotton 
or corn stalks are broken up with a stalk cutter or disk harrow during 
the late fall or winter. Then, in the early spring the land is plowed 
with a 2-horse turning plow or middle buster and as broken is thrown 
into beds the desired width apart for the cotton rows. Before plant- 
ing, the land is rebedded with a turning plow and the beds harrowed 
with a spike-tooth harrow. Where commercial fertilizer is used, it is 
applied in the water furrow before rebedding and the land bedded 
on the fertilizer. 
Cotton is planted on the bed with a 1 -horse 1-row planter. The 
rows average 3^ feet apart, and 3 pecks of seed are planted per acre. 
After thinning, the stalks are left from 12 to 15 inches apart in the drill. 
In cultivating, both 1 -horse and 2-horse implements are used. The 
first cultivation is usually given with a spring-tooth cultivator, either 
1 -horse or 2-horse, and often this implement is used for the second 
cultivation. For all cultivations after this, sweeps are used. About 
half the farmers use 1-horse sweeps, putting three furrows to the row, 
and about half use 2-horse cultivators equipped with sweeps instead 
of shovels. These 2-horse cultivators are equipped with four small 
sweeps or with only two large sweeps. During the season four or five 
cultivations are given. 
The cotton is chopped to a stand after the first cultivation and again 
gone over with the hoe at the third cultivation for a second thinnmg 
and to chop out weeds. 
No cover crops are grown and little stable manure is produced. 
About half the farmers use commercial fertilizer. The average appli- 
cation per acre is 202 pounds. 
The principal varieties of cotton are Mebane and Rowden. The 
most troublesome and prevalent weeds are crab-grass, Johnson grass, 
cocklebur, careless weed, and Bermuda grass. 
