The Tupelo journal., 1907-04-26
FARMER AND
PLANTER
COTTON.
What Fifteen Years Experience Has
Taught a Carolina Grower.

-
! speak from experience when l
say the poorest land in North Carolina
If undertake with clay, can In five Or
six years be made to produce from six
to eight hundred pounds Of lint cotton
per acre.
And the greater the yield the cheap
er the cost per pound, II the fertilizer
is used with discretion after consid-
ering the needs Of the soil.
Right here, too, let me say that II
the farmers would learn their needs
and mix the fertilizers accordingly,
they could save from one to three dol
lars an acre on commercial fertilizers
alone. Some soils need 4 per cent
potash while others will perhaps do
as well on three. Very few of the
guano factories put more than 2 per
cen potash for cotton and about 2 per
cent ammonia. This Is enough ammo
n. = the cotton follows a good pea
vine stubble, but If it follows corn 1t
generally needs more ammonia.
/ have never cultivated a large area
in any one crop, as a 30-acre farm
will not admit much of any one crop,
but I have experimental with nearly
all the field crops grown In Eastern
North Carolina, and especially with
poor land, for much of the 30 acres
would not make a corn tassel thirty
years ago, but the few acres l cult
vate in cotton have averaged for the
past fifteen years owe a 500-pound
bale to the acre, and this with an
average of not 500 pounds of ferti-
lizer per acre. With judicious f%ertiliz-
ing and cultivation we ought always
to get a pound Of lint cotton for every
pound of fertilizer used. This might
be carried out perhaps ever up to
1000 or 1900 pounds. / have not
tested it above 800 pounds, but have
proved it good that far, and when /
get more humus in the land, think /
will try it up to at least a thousand
pounds per acre.
1t seems useless, however, to fer
tilize to any extent without good prep
aration and cultivation soil broken
at least IL inches deep as fine as pos
sible, fertilizer only a few inches deep
and we'll mixed with the soil, and
prefer to put all I'm going to use be-
fore | plant, for l have not found 1t
profitable to put on a side dressing
later. AS to distance, l prefer four
foot rows, and 10 to 20 inches in the
rows. AS 20 cultivation, / sometimes
go over my cotton every week, the first
time across the rows with a harrow
or 18-inch cotton pillow, leaving only
a small place to be worked by hoe, and
if preferred it may be cross-plowed
again.
The more rapid cultivation the soon
er the cotton gets ahead of everything
else, and if the work is done right no
harm is done to the plant. If a good
plowman does his work right in the
cotton patch, fifty cents an acre will
be sufficient for all the hoe work
needed any ordinary year; the later in
the year the lighter the work should
be and less frequent.
In many cases topping cotton proves
beneficial, especially if the growth is
good and it is done early in July.
There are so many varieties of cot
ton and so great a diversity of soil,
each individual farmer car best as
certain from his own soil what variety
Is best suited to 1t. This can be done
only by tests which any intelligent
farmer can soon determine by trying.
Every farmer may greatly improve
his seed and yield by selecting from
the patch, first the best stalks, fruit
being the test, then from these select
stalks the very best bolls. With this
done from year to year, and with gen.
eral care and judgment exercised, we
might cultivate half the lands now cul-
tivated or 5000, 900 acres in cotton
and get at least $4,000, 900 bales, which
will in a few years be needed. The
other lands now wasted in cotton could
be turned to good account in some
crop that hogs, sheep or cattle would
harvest at remunerative prices, thus
settling some important labor prob
1ems.-D. Lane in Progressive Farmer.