Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1917-11-16
A REMARKABLE
YIELD OF COTTON.
Twenty-nine Bales Gathered from
13 Acres-H How 1t was Done.

Mr.. 'Fayette Anderson of ShuqualaI
stated in casual way at a meeting
this summer of the board of directors
of the Merchants and Farmers bank. oi
which he is member, that he had 8
cut of cotton, containing thirteen acres,
that he believed he would gather from
Ymore than a bale to the acre. Hil
staten ,nt was taken with bit Of Gre
dulity. or rather he was charged with
counting the chickens before the eggs
were Matched, as it was thought he wal
not making proper allowance for feed
ing the boil weevil.
So after the good-natured chafing by
his friends Mr.. Anderson felt degree
of relief when more than bale to the
acre had been gathered. and he was
even astonshed himself when the yielc
continued to grow until it reached the
total of twenty-nine bales.
The following letter to Mr.. E. v
Yates explains how this remarkable
yield of cotton was made:
SHUQUALAK, MISS. Nov. 9th
Mr.. E. " Yates,
Macon. Miss.
| Dear Mr.. Yates:
have your letter in which you ask
about the thirteen acres of cotton about
which we had spoken to you. l note
you asked about the type of land, kind
of fertilizer, seed, prepar alton, cultiva-
tion. etc.
The land is what the U. S. Soil Sur
vey calls "Norfolk Fine Sandy Loan. "
1t was, few years ago, poor, white
sandy land. 1t has been up with barn
ward manure, and we used on this crop
700 pounds of 1879 fertilizer, ie.. fer
tiliZer made of IL per cent phosphate
and two per cent ammonia. This fer
tilizer was put out in three applications
300 pounds before planting and about
200 pounds when cotton VISA about ten
inches high, and 200 pounds wis 'bout
twenty-four inches. We uset' 'ok's
Improved seed. The land w. ell
broken and the rows were aDc "a
feet wide and the land was culJ yated
with spring tooth cultivator. with now
and then a sweep furrow fiat in the
middle for drainag The stand was
very good but not perfect; the stalks
were left from one to two feet in the
drill but were, in some cases, as much
az three feet apart.
We made 29 bales that averaged a
little more than 800 each.
We bought a few of the hand boil
weevil and had them run over this cot
ton about once each week from the time
the plant was few inches high until it
was too large for the catcher. We
caught Only few weevil, and we came
to the conclusion there was only few
to catch while the cotton was small
Later on, after the rains set in, the
weevil became numerous, but not in
sufficient numbers to destroy all the
cotton. for we made some late cotton
We have to the conclusion that if
farmer cultivates his cotton perfectly
and fertilizes it at proper intervals,
then it will shed very little of its fruit
except such as is affected by the wee
vii. NV theory is this: Fertilizer dis
tributed at intervals as required by the
plant is worth much more than 80 per
cent more used at Que time. Feed your
cotton as you feed.your mule-at inter
walls when it needs feed.
This land was cultivated as nearly
perfect as possible, and grass was not
allowed to grow and take up the ferti-
lizer We suppose any farmer knows
that it is not profitable to fertilize
grass.
l should say that the credit for this
yield and this demonstration belongs to
our manager, Mr. C. Floore, who super.
intended same. Very truly,
r. l.. ANDERSON.