Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1888-11-10
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
Cotton Picking.

sinply multiplying by two the total
picked out by the first day of October,
experience having shown that under
ordinary circumstances one-half our
crop was usually harvested by that
date. With the constant Improvement
In the varieties of cotton in respect OF
earliness of maturity, aided by the
almost universal use of concentrated
and stimulating fertilizers, the rule
will not now hold good. The dates Of
the appearance of the first bale" the
active opening Of the cotton season,
and the gathering of the bulk OF the
crop, have all been moved back per-
haps two weeks as compared with
twenty years ago. The present crop
is later than usual, and yet we judge
that more than half of it has
been gathered and half of the remain
der is open in the fields. These re-
marks apply particularly to the lati-
Jude of thirty-two and half degrees,
are made to illustrate the changes that
have been wrought by improvement
in seed and the use OF commercial fer
filters It is remarkable, however,
that no practical device or machine
has yet been perfected to aid in the
>edous work of contemplating, and we
stand just where we did forty years
ago. And yet there is no detail of the
work of cotton production which so
urgently calls for the aid Of inventive
talent as that of picking.
1t has often been remarked that cot
ton is one of the least exhaustive crops
known to agriculture, provided the
seed, or the seed meal, be faithfully
returned to the soil. In direct sense
this is true. The lint of cotton, which
is the prime object Of its cultivation,
contains, in 100 pounds, only II pounds
OF inorganic or soil elements, or ashes.
To state it in tabular form, 100 pounds
cotton lint contain Of
Phosphoric acid. ...................,0.1S pounds
Potosh. ............... .............'O5t pounds
Lime................. '........... ...O4o pounds
Magresia. ......................Ol II pounds
Other mineral matters. :. .......... 0.55 pounds
Total ashes.... 10 POUNDS
In other words, one hundred pounds
of lint cotton removes from the soil
only 1.75 pounds of elements, and OF
this amount only 0.55 pounds are phos-
phoric acid and potash, the remainder
consisting of lime, magnesia and other
elements of little or no value on ac-
count of their usual abundance in the
soil. 1t would appear, then, at first
glance, that cotton might be grown in
definitely on the same land without Sc
rious detriment to the soil, so small is
the draft made upon the latter, or that
the productive capacity of the soil
might be maintained and even increased
by the use of very small amount Of
fertilizer annually. In fact, less than
one-fifth of one pound of phos-
one-third of a pound of potash are
removed from the soil in one hundred
pounds of cotton lint. But the con-
tray is the observed fact. We know
that cotton culture very rapidly re-
duces the capacity of our soils, espe-
cially the broken lands, not only for
cotton, but for any and all crops.
Why is thisP The cause is two-fold:
l. Cotton is a summer crop and re-
quires clean culture throughout the
hot months. The growth of other
vegetation is prevented, and this
natural means of amelioration and re-
storation is almost entirely cut off,
being limited to the scant returns in
vegetable matter of the cotton plant
itself. The effect of the chemical
rays of the sunlight on liv.
ing plants is to aid them to
assimilate the carbonic acid of the
air and thus build up the vegetable
structure; but the same sunlight has a
directly opposite effect on the dead
tissues and upon the organic matter
already in the soil. These are oxi.
died, or converted into carbonic acid,
which escapes in the air. and the soil
is thus constantly losing its vegetable
matter or humus by this slow combus-
tion or oxidation. The more the soil
is stirred, during the summer especial.
ly, the more rapidly this loss goes on.
2. The principal cause of exhaustion
of soils under clean cotton culture is
due to the constant teaching and wash
ing away of the soil. Most of this loss
is occasioned by the removing of the
soil bodily, and not by dissolving Out
or teaching of the soluble elements.
The object of this little discussion is
to impress upon farmers the impor.
lance of providing against these ire
mendous leaks on the farm by the use
of the most practicable means for the
purpose. The first resort is to SOW in
small grain or grass every acre of their
rolling cotton lands. This, for present
consideration. 1t would be we'll tC
consider the propriety of disseminating
in future the planting of summer crops
especially cotton, on broken lands
The immediate remedy is to sow small
grain on all rolling cotton lands. Thi.
will serve in great measure to prevent
washing during the winter and early
spring months. Farmers SOW too little
small grain any way, and are too prom,
to measure the benefits of such
crop by the returns of its harvest, on
considering that a very large part Of
benefits of small grain crop consists
in the pasturage afforded and the pre-
vention of washing in winter. One
half bushel or even less, of Georgis
seed rye, or one bushel of grazing
oats, if sown in the cotton fields il
Sanfamhar or Octnher will affnrd :