Soil and fertility.—Cotton very readily adjusts itself to the soil conditions, and will usually yield a crop in proportion to the fertility of the land ; however, there are certain necessary ex penses in the cultivation of cotton regardless of the yield, and it is unprofitable to grow it on land which is not sufficiently feitile to produce a crop whose value exceeds these expenses. In some sections, like the delta region of Missis sippi, and various parts of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, the soils are rich enough to do this, but most of the cotton lands require the application of artificial manures, the rotation of crops and other means of increasing or retaining their fertility to enable them to grow cotton profitably. Millions of tons of commercial fertilizers, consisting largely of acid phosphate, kainit, muriate of potash, nitrate of soda and cottonseed-meal, are used annually by cotton-growers to enrich their land.
Barnyard manures also serve an important purpose in improving cotton lands. They supply a small quantity of plant-food and a considerable quantity of organic matter which opens the soil and im proves its mechanical condition. They are also supposed to act on the constituents of the soil in a chemical way, converting the plant-food into an available condition for the use of the plants.
Probably one of the cheapest and most effective means of soil-improvement is crop rotation. Cotton would never exhaust the land if washing could be entirely prevented and the seeds were returned to it each year. as the lint cotton, the part necessarily removed, contains only a very small quantity of plant-food ; but unfortunately in many cases the seeds are also removed without substituting their equivalent in other manures. This is a source of great loss, for the seed contains large quantities of the most valuable elements of plant-food. Sur face washing is also a source of great impover ishment to cotton-fields, as the nature of the crop necessitates a method of tillage which causes an extreme surface exposure of the soil for practically every month in the year, thereby intensifying the bad effects of heavy rains. During heavy rains the water is quickly shed into the middles of the rows, where it is confined to a very small part of the available area and has great power to wash away the fine soil as it runs off. Unless these conditions can be counterbalanced, cotton-fields will gradually grow poor. This can be accomplished in a large measure by planting from time to time leguminous crops which enrich the soil by collecting nitrogen from the air, and which occupy a larger part of the surface and necessitate a minimum surface exposure of the soil, thereby greatly reducing the loss by surface washing. This is usually done by rotating cotton with corn, small grain and cow peas.
Other methods of preventing soil-washing are terracing, deep plowing, and running the rows at right angles to the direction of the slope of the land.
Preparation of the land.—The preparation of the land before planting consists of breaking the soil and making the seed-beds. This breaking can be done in the winter or just before planting. As a rule, when cotton is to be planted after grain or other crops, the land is broken broadcast with a turn-plow in the winter. The rows are laid off several weeks previous to planting, and the seed beds are made just before planting. When cotton has been grown on the land the previous year, the above method is sometimes followed, but more fre quently the new bed is made in the old middle, and the trouble of laying off new rows is thereby avoided. The method is not so important, the only essential point being to have the soil thoroughly broken, and to have fresh, loose seed-beds.
Seeding.—There are cotton-planters on the mar ket that give good service. Some of them, however, have a tendency to drop too many seeds, making much hand-hoeing or chopping necessary later in the removal of the surplus plants. The number of plants can be reduced and the stand regulated in part by the use of a weeder or a harrow when the plants are small. Many farmers dig plant-holes with a hoe and drop eight to ten seeds in each hole. In consequence of the waste in planting, the quantity of seed per acre varies considerably. The seed required will vary from one to three bushels per acre. One bushel is plenty when properly sown.
The common practice is to have the rows four feet apart. On the lighter soils three to three and one-half feet will give as good results. This dis tance, as well as that between the plants in the row, varies with varieties and soil conditions. The distance between the plants in the rows varies from twelve to twenty-four inches. Twenty inches is, perhaps, a safe distance on good soils. On poor soils the planting should be closer.
Time qf planting.—It is the general experience that cotton planted early most often gives best results. The time of planting varies with the dif ferent localities. In Florida and southern Georgia, cotton can be planted much earlier than in North Carolina or Tennessee. The following table of dates, from Mr. A. B. Shepperson's "Cotton Facts," will give the approximate dates when planting begins and ends : Thinning.—After the seeds come up to a stand, the cotton is chopped out with hoes, leaving one hill for every twelve to twenty inches and one to three plants in each hill. A few days later it is thinned again, removing all but one plant from each hill, leaving the most vigorous one.