Arizona republican., 1920-02-20

ne growing or long staple differs from almost any other crop in that nc general rules can be applied. The mos experienced growers will make sucI remarks as this in regard to the grow ing of the crop: These methods have proved successful for my soil and con- ditions but may not do at all for some one else.''
 Type of soil and moisture conditions are prominent faStors in determining successful methods. There are some types of soil where the growing ot cotton would not be advisable. It is questionable if the extremely heavy or the very light soils are adapted to the growing of American Egyptian cotton It is now pretty generally recognized that the raw desert lands will not usu- ally produce paying crops the first sea son and many growers who have land of this type will put d considerable portion of it in alfalfa or some other leSumlnous crop as a preparation for producing cotton on a profitable scale.
 Among cotton growers the most dis cussed questions are those which have to do with time of planting, distance apart in rows, as well as distance apart of the rows. and last and most i'm pertant of all, the amount of water which the plants should have. With tHe exception of the extremely heavy or the extremely light soils, growers
 
 Sravelly loam to a rather heavy Ioam. More than one-half of those inter viewed who have produced over one bale to the acre to a bale and a half OF more, planted their crop on land that had previously been in alfalfa With one exception, the very largest cEops have been produced on alfalfa and bermuda grass sod. This is an important argument in favor of the TO- tation of crops.
 AS general thing most cotton growers are in favor of rather deep blowing, say about eight inches. As is we'll known, a shallow blowing Of alfalfa which cuts off every alfalfa root followed later by d deeper blow ing results in a better seed bed and with less trouble from alfalfa sprouts and undecayed roots. One of the best yPlds was obtained upon an alfalfa Geld plowed early in the fall of 1917 ~uite deep. It was seeded to barley, which was pastured until about the middle of February, then plowed shai low and planted to cotton.
 Without exception, the successful growers agree that it is absolutely necessary to allow the soil to absorb as much water as possible before planting and to have the top soil in fine dust mulch condition. These re- suits are obtained in several different ways. As just mentioned, one success ful grower accom- pliShed this by blow ing his green barley stubble (this had been closely pastured until the time of plowing) very shallow, after a thor ough irrigation. This left the soil in 8 firm, moist condition for the roots Of the young plants. At the same time the top soil was loose and easily worked into q perfect dust mulch. Planting under these conditions, the seed is brought in close contact with the firm. moist soil and examination is rapid and sure. Another successful grower accomplished very nearly the same thing by blowing deep, dra 2sing, irri-I gatinS, disking and then rolling, fol- lowing with a disk harrow set so as to cut very shallow. Another method which has been successful and is prac- ticed by the well known grower, E. w Hudson, under whose direction the American long staple cotton was de- veloped at the Sacaton, Arizona, ex- pertinent station, is after blowing and narrowing, to run a lister the same distance that the rows are to be planted apart, throwing the earth up into ridges. Water is then run into the furrows, preferably in a small stream so that the soil absorbs every drop Of moisture which it will hold Some growers are able to so adjust the head of the water as to make the flow constant for a period of AS hours. Then when the soil condition will per- init these ridges are dragged down level, or very nearly so. By this method the desired condition of the