252 
ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 
planter. Slightly more will be needed if planted by hand. 
In planting cotton seed one should avoid planting too 
deep and too thick. Shallow and thin planting gives 
better results. 
Thinning Young Cotton.—Cotton chopping or 
thinning may begin as soon as the young seedlings show 
from two to four leaves. In some sections the dirt is 
Fig. 182.—Picking out seed. 
thrown from the rotv known as “barring off” and the 
plants thinned out from 12 to 20 inches apart in the row 
with a hoe. In other districts the surface of the ground 
is scraped near the plants and the loose soil and grass 
rolled to the middles with a small implement made for 
the purpose; while in other sections of the South the 
cotton is plowed with cultivators before chopping. In 
thinning, leave from one to two strong plants in a hill, 
and exercise care not to bruise them in carrying on the 
