The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1893-11-01
Profitable Cotton Growing.

The small average production per
acre of cotton should convince pro-
ducers that a great deal of hard work
is thrown away every year
In almost every neighborhOod indi'
vidual instances furnish conclusive evil
dence that the fault is in the man and
not in the soil. The great trouble be-
hind all of this is in the universal dis
position to plant more land than can be
properly cared for.
The southern farmer is given to "big"
things, and his standing is rated by the
number of bales of cotton his planta'
ton ships to market annually. There
is very little land in the cotton belt
that will not properly managed) pro-
duce from 400 to 600 pounds of lint cot
ton in fair seasons; yet we see the aver
age falls below 100 pounds for the en-
tire acreage.
The lands of the Yazoo Delta will,
with good cultivation, produce SOC
pounds of lint cotton or fifty bushels Of
corn per acre, yet the average give1
for this section is about 200 pounds OF
cotton and twenty bushels of corn.
quently sees a fine crop of cotton and
corn, belonging to the same tenant.
while on the same kind of soil, in the
same inclosure, will be seen another
crop scarcely worth preserving.
Inquiry will reveal that in the first
instance the tenant has just what he
can attend to CAREFUL, while the other
is badly over-cropped, and necessarily
loses in yield 1t is possible for the
southern farmer to bring up his land
to paying point by a judicious course
of rotation. The cow pea furnishes a
cheap and valuable soil renovator, and
the average southern farm can be re-
stored to profitable production by the
use of COW peas alone.
A trial of this will convince the most
skeptical. It must be understood that
no crop should be plowed under green
in our warm climate, but it should be
left until frost has killed vegetation
and then turned under, or do it IN the
winter. January being the best time.
In this section, vegetation is so rank
that after June 1 it would be almost
impossible to plow under this rank
growth, in fact, it can hardly be done
in the winter, as the dead vines, weeds
and grass on vacant fields, are frequent
ly six to twelve inches deep, and must
be removed before the land can be
plowed This is usually accomplished
by burning, a practice thdt should not
be resorted to, if possible to avoid.
If our farming friends would learn
that it is much more profitable to take
only SO much land as the means at their
command will justify. and give to that
the best attention in the preparation
and after cultivation, they will soon
cease complaining that farming does
not pay. Competition, even in the cot
ton-growing business, is driving the
limits of profit down to very narrow
margins.
We are told that revolu tons never go
backward, therefore we must adapt
ourselves to the new conditions, or drop
out to make room for those who do. In
a few years more cotton production
will be carried into many countries that
have never before grown it. That the
United States can defy all competition
in this line I think certain. We can
produce cotton cheaper than other
countries by using improved labor
saving implements The "picker'
will be forthcoming when the
time demands it. When it does, cot
ton will be produced at a cost of three
cents per pound. At present, pine cot
ton, grown by the old methods, has
ceased to be nrOf1tab1p We nuSt 11yo