The spectator., 1920-09-17
SEVEN ESSENTIAL FACTORS
 IN BIG YIELDS OF COTTON
WHEN ANY ONE OF THEM IS LACKING LOW PRODUCTION RESULTS, SAYS REPORT OF PROFITABLE FARMING
 PARTY TELLING OF RECENT TOUR

 aud the Carolinas under the auspices of the Arkansas Profitable Farming Bureau of the Little Rock Board of Commerce, the members of the party say that the remarkable yields of cot ton they saw were due to seven fac tors which they enumerate as fol lows:
 l. Good drainage.
 2. An abundance of decayed vege- table matter in the soil.
 3. Deep breaking of the soil. from . to F inches.
 4. We'll prepared seed bed.
 s. Seed that has been bred to pro- duce high yields.
 (. Heavy applica tions of high grade fertilizers.
 2. Frequent shallow cultivation and hte cultivation.
 It is said that where one oi these seven is lacking the yield is low.
 The report follows:
 Territory Covered.
 We rode in autos about seven hun eU luAlCb SuouSh thS Ioi hhiAb SO> tions around Americus and Athens. Georgia: Greenville, Greer. Spartan burg, Florence, Darlington. Hartsville and Bennettsville, South Carolina. and Wilson, North Carolina. We covered . large part of the country in which each town is located. seeing all the kinds of soil and the good and poor farming in each locality.
 Yields.
 We saw a few fields where from two to three bales of cotton an acre were raised. We saw many large fields producing from one and half to two bales an acre. We saw hun dreds of fields yielding more than one bale an acre We saw thousands of acres that average a bale an acre.
 We saw many fields of corn that produce from 75 to 100 bushels of corn m acre and large number that yield fifty or more bushels. These high yields of cotton and corn are raised on soil where tweaty years ago much of the land was abandoned as worn out and most of that in cultivation produced 50 to 100 pounds of lint cot ton or 2 to 10 bushels of corn an acre
 Soil and Climate.
 Most of the land we saw that is producing bale or more an acre is hke the cut-over. sandy. piney woods land in South Arkansas from which our farmers are getting one bale from Suur to six acres. Some of the soil that w saw on which high yields are gaised is gravelly and \ little of 1t clay.
 Thin, sandy land in Georgia and the Caroiinas with plant not one hak the height of that grown on Ar 1Ansas bottom lands Is producing two to three and sometimes four times the amount of cotton that Is being raised on our bottom soils.
 The mate. annual rainfall and length of growing season in the sec tons visited are about the same as in Arkansas, but the summer rainfall is greater and 1t is more evenly dis trfbutod than ia our state. Aew These High Yisids Are Secured. In every locality visited in the three states the growers who raise bale or two an acre told us that to do this they had to have:
 u) Good drainage.
 (s An abundance of decayed vege- table matter in the soil.
 (S) The soil we'll broke. s to F inchas.
 (D We'll prepared seed bed.
 (5) Seed bred to produce high yields.
 (C Heavy applications of high grade commercial fertilizer
 (O Frequent shallow cultivation and late cultivation.
 Where one of these is lscking the yield Is low.
 The men who raise high yields of cotton are using from 500 to 1000 sounds of high grade commercial fer tiliser an acre. Most of them use 500 to 1000 pounds. Each has learned through long experience the kind and auantity to use and how and when so apply 1t.
 The net returns per acre where large quantities of commercial fertil- fer ere used are much higher than the not returns of Arkansas cotton srowers, including those on our pot tom lands. Many producers of Aigh ytelds told us that if they quit using 1e.~e cnantities of fertilizer their yields and net profits would quickly 1rop oaehalf.
 esoys.
 YAs Georgia and Carolina farmers aso a careful about the breeding or eAs seed they plant as are the best rsissss of pure bred horses. cattle and Aeas C the animals in their herds. We