The Springdale news., 1918-07-19
COTTON Will HELP
BEAT THE GERMANS

UlnI I'LL UllIiIInNU
Crops Produced For Food Should Re-
ceive First Attention, But World
y Needs Cotton.
BY w. E. Ayers, Cotton Specialist, Ar
kansas Experiment Station, u of A.
Crops produced primarily for food
and feed should always receive first
attention, but the world needs and
must have cotton. Three successive
short crops and the lack of steamer
space have reduced the visible supply
both at home and abroad to a danger
Gus minimum. Another extremely
short crop might be disastrous Cot
ton Is the basis OF the principal ex.
plosives used by our armies and ma
vies. A twelve-inch gun uses half a
bale at shot and an active machine
gun disposes of bale in less than five
minutes. These demands are second
AIRY only to food and feed and tho
world must be clothed besides. Cot
ton clothes 80 per cent of the world
and the warning nations have been
patching their clothing for three years.
1t must soon be renewed.
The seed from q. normal crop Of cot
ton will aid materially in relieving the
food shortage. Cotton oil supplies half
the lard or shortening fat used in the
United States today. The seed from
bale Of cotton produces meal equiv
alent in feeding value-when properly
corn, The bulls from the seed of
10, 200, 900 bales Of cotton will replace
100000 tons of non-legume hay as q
feed for cattle
1t is imperative that every acre of
cotton produce maximum yield To
do this, proper cultivation is necessary.
The use of two-horse and two-row cul-
tivators should be made the rule rath-
i er than the exception. There is no bet
ter implement for cultivatipg small
cotton than cultivator equipped with
side harrow attachments or four small
sweeps. One man. two mules, and a
cultivator can do the work of two men
and two mules working in the old way.
An average white man or good negro
can operate two-row cultivator and
do the work of four men and mules on
large level fields where rows are reg
ular and comparatively straight. Shall
low cultivation often enough to keep
down weeds and grass and preserve =
mulch is necessary.
II il is necessary to speed up" the
work at any time, a center furrow with
large sweep or heel sweep will make
a mulch and kill maximum of
grass and weeds in minimum
of time. A man and team and
cultivator equipped with two large
sweeps can center furrow Is acres in
. day With this done the crop will
wait for other work.
The best and most reliable labor
should do the blowing. When blowing
10 needed men and mules should be at
the pillow, unless the land Is too wet.
A man with a cultivator or even sin
gle pillow can kill more grass and weeds
In q day than he can kill in weeks with
q hoe. When 1t is too wet to pillow, all
hands should hoe. 1t very seldom stays
too wet to hoe more than few hours.
Cotton which has not been thinned
to one plant per hill before It is ten
inches high, will, in most case, pro-
duce more II not so thinned unless
there are more than $4,000 plants per
acre Within reasonable limits the
more plants per acre the greater the
yield Experiments show that 12-inch
spacing produces 10 to Is per cent
more cotton than wider spacing.
The use of 100 pounds per acre of
nitrate of soda on poor or medium
soils is usually profitable. 1t should
be applied aroAnd the plants not later
than the time at which they begin to
bloom. 1t should be covered immedi-
ately by cultivating the crop.
Summary Statements. :.
There is a shortage of cotton, not in
the South but in the world. Cotton is
necessary to both the army and the
civilian population. Cottonseed prod
ucts supply food, feed and ammunition.
Two and three-horse cultivators will
help relieve the labor shortage.
Large sweeps do much in little time.
The best men are worth most at
the pillow.
All hands should hoe when 1t is too
wet to plow
Thin spacing is undesirable.
The proper use of nitrate of soda
Il profitable.