62 BULLETIN 511, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
deeper than the heavy clay soils. There is little or no relation 
between the depth of plowing and the yield of cotton. In preparing 
the land after plowing for cotton, the type of soil and the prevailing 
tillage methods determine what implements are used and the amount 
of tillage given. 
In planting cotton, 1 -horse planters are chiefly used. The time 
of planting is governed largely by the type of soil and the climatic 
conditions. Cotton is generally planted on a slight bed, and in only 
a few areas where dry weather prevails during the growing season 
is it ever planted level or listed. 
Cotton is sown in drills from 3 to 4 feet apart and thinned to a 
stand at the second and third cultivations. After thinning, the 
stalks are left from 12 to 18 inches apart in the drill. 
The amount of cultivation given after planting is directly related 
to the yields of cotton obtained. This was not found to be true in 
the cultivation of corn. 1 
In the cotton belt where crops which add organic matter to the 
soil, such as hay and pasture, enter little into the rotations practiced, 
the percentage of cultivated land grown in cotton each year does not 
appear to affect the yields of cotton obtained. In those areas where 
heavy applications of commercial fertilizer are made every year 
and where from 40 to 50 per cent of the cultivated land is planted 
to cotton, there appears to be a slight increase in the yields of this 
crop. 
The cotton belt may be grouped into four divisions: (1) The Delta 
areas, (2) the South Atlantic division, (3) the Intermediate areas, 
and (4) the Southwestern division. For each division the general 
customs, practices, and conditions are fairly uniform. . 
The methods employed in each division are, generally speaking, 
those most advisable under the existing conditions. 
It is believed from these studies that the kind of tillage given 
cotton and the tillage implements used are governed largely by 
economic conditions, topography, type of soil, and, not least, custom. 
The amount of tillage given is determined largely by the kind and 
number of weeds, the economic conditions, and the prevailing 
weather. 
1 See U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 320, previously mentioned. 
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