San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1881-11-17
Methods Of Cotton CultIvatIos.
From, Bradstreet's.

7 examination, to have very much to d
with the general question Of profit
The cotton plant itself is herbaceou
tree with u root striking as deep as an
tree Of its size, and though an annua
in this climate, it is perennial in tn
tropics, and q tree, in fact, whereve
the perennial species can grow. In it
cultivation as an annual this character
istic should not be forgotten, and, frs
OF all things, the soil should be prepar
ed for the growth and fertilization o
deeply penetrating rosts. iIthas beer
the habit in the Older Atlantic States
to cultivate at very shallow depths
although the criticism is not so applica
BILE at the present time as in former
years, though there is yet room fol
great improvement. Breaking the sur
face to the depth Of three or four in
ches has been deemed sufficient in or
binary cultivation, and this very imper'
feet opening up Of the soil was follow
ed in cotton planting tolerable prac'
tice for small grains, possibly, but one
certain to incur great risks for deep
rooted plants.
- On the rich bottom lands of Missis'
sippi, and on river bottoms generally,
is this defect of surface cultivation on
ly slightly felt, or at least it would not
restrict production othe same degree;
but on the uplands, and in dry seasons
particularly, the root of the plant can
not penetrate sufficient to produce .
crop. The soil may be highly fertilized,
but the fertilization is wasted; the sur
face is too dry to give norishmcnt to
the roots, and below the surface neither
the roots nor the applied fertilizer can
make use Of the soil. This is, to a GER
tain extent, the cause of damage to the
crop the present season; the soil other
wise well prepared by the liberal APP
plication of fertilizers, loses the use OF
its pulverized surface because OF the
drouth. The contrast is much greater
in the season like the present than in
one with the usual amount of rain, al
though at all times the difference be-
tween the free growth of plants on
deeply cultivated lands and the stinted
production on very thin soils is sufi'
GENTLY apparent. 1t will be impossible
to count with reasonable certainty on
full crop IN any season without full
and complete reform in this one of the
methods of cultivation. If the soil is
not thoroughly and deeply broken
in the upland cotton fields, we now
know that the cotton crop will not at
tain its usual yield per acre, and no
possible state of the market as to prices
can atone for this deficiency in guam
tity.
A striking illustration of the value
of better methods of cultivation is af-
forded by the special crop of John H.
Jones, planter of Hogansville, Ga,
whose limited plantation of eighteen
acres has produced almost as much
per acre in 1881 Us it did in the prolific
year 1880, when all the light and shall
low plowed soils did better, probably,
than at any time within ten years. The
report of this planters success is direct.
md, undoubtedly, entirely authentic,
md his only points of marked distinc-
ion was in the depth of the cultiva-
ion. The soil is reported to be the
Usual upland, which on the average has
lot yielded more than one-quarter of
bale per acre the present summer in
Georgia and the Carolinas; yet in this
lnprecedently bad year it gives one
,ale and quarter per acre to the deep
blowing of this more skillful planter.
The difference between one-half
,ale per acre and the present crop
would be everything to the cotton plan
ers the present year and it would have
aved them from most embarrassing
Iebts to the fertilizer dealers. In
God year their free purchases of fer
iliEers would have been wise; but in
ear of extreme drouth, with shallow {
lowing, it has been comparatively
'orthless to them. The applied stimu- J
Is does not reach the plants, or the ]
lants can not avail themselves of the {
timulus.
1t must, of course, be apparent that q