Arizona republican., 1919-02-20

earth back to the plants. The first ir- rigation was about four weeks after planting when the appearance of the plants and soil showed there was nJ.d of more moisture. It should be noted in this connection that this land Is gravely sandy loam and that the depth to the water table in this section is between 40 to 50 feet. The plants were thinned after the first cultivation as nearly as possible "A inches apart in the row. Other cultivations followed immediately after the chopping and very frequently as long as teams could be driven through between the rows without damage to the plants. Irriga- tions were given whenever the appear ance of the plant permitted, through out the season. His plan of irrigation was tG open a small furrow with a single shovel blow and run the water in these furroWs, letting the water seep into the soil, never permitting the wa ter to touch the stalks of the plants Picking began the latter part ot September and was practically com pleted three times over the field. With regard to his system of rather wide spacing, he says: Tt seems plausible that a plant that is crowded is not as healthy as when it can grow more naturally" In the matter of suppression of vegetative growth, he says, T find all the branches bearing cotton" He considers the most important thing in raising cotton is the thorough prepara- tion of the seed bed. Irrigation also is very important; in particular, not al lowing the plant to suffer for water after it begins fruiting. He estimates his cost of production aside from the lease of the land. up to the picking time to be about $50 per acre. MT. Walthall believes that there is great future for cotton and that next year will be even better than this. He req sons that as the cotton grown in Ari- zona becomes better known it will create a greater demand on account oi the extraordinary quality of the fiber | Next year he is going to plant 20 acres instead of seven. This will include the seven acres planted to cotton this year l three acres that was in alfalfa and the l balance, land that produced two crops of grain last year and previously hac been in alfalfa.
 1 One of the most noteworthy yields of cotton this past season was on the | farm of MT. C. R. Gordon of Chandler This was a sandy loam, rather heavy and on field of 62 acres, he produced | 90 bales. This land had been in alfalfs fer 20 years, with the exception of T.
 acres which was in corn the previous
 season, producing 50 bushels to tht acre. The land was plowed in February
 four inches deep, but plowed with spe-
 cial care to cut off every root of al
 e-'f'. This was a most thorough job The land was then narrowed in orde to get all the roots to the surface. I ! w disked. watered and dragged anC
 when he was ready for planting. he haC
 a seed bed which he described being
 as mellow as ashes. He planted the lat
 ter part of March. A portion was re
 planted early in April, using a littl
 less than 30 pounds of seed to the acre He spaced his rows four feet apart an,
 planted two rows with a four-foo
 space between, then left a six-foo
 space and planted two rows more. Il
 the center of the six-foot space, mil,
 was planted at the same time as tn
 cotton. The milo seemed to be detri
 mental to the cotton and was plowe,
 down in July, leaving the six-foot spac
 entirely vacant. The cotton seed wa
 planted two inches deep, althoug
 owing to the exceedingly fine melloN
 condition of the soil, some was plante
 deeper than this and hence the neces
 sity for replanting small portion 0
 the field. He would prefer to plan
 about one and one-half inches deer
 The field was cross narrowed shortl
 after planting before the plants cam