Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-08-09
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
~ DR.. ANDREW NJ SOULE ."~s@:~a

| spring tooth cultivator with fender
| attachment either of the two-horse
best implement to use. This leaves
a narrow strip that can be easily
chopped out.
AS soon as all danger of dying is
over the plants should be thinned to
stand. Under weevtl conditions it
has been. found by numerous tests
that leaving the cotton fairly thick
in the row results in slightly earlier
maturity and a considerable increase
in yield. The distance the plants
should be left will vary from eight
inches apart on poor soil to eighteen
spacing with chopping done as early
as all danger of dying is over usu-
ally gives the highest yields. On
the college farm on land that pro-
duceS about two bales per acre two
plants per hill eighteen inches apart
gave the highest yield in tests made
before the advent of the weevil.
In cultivating cotton the following
principles should be kept in mind.
1. Most Of the roots are found in
that part Of the soil broken in pre-
pairing the seed bed and the plant
food is taken from that part Of the
soil.
2. Very little plant food is derived
from that part Of the soil stirred by
the plow during the cultivating pc
Rod.
This leaves the space between the
bottom of that part cultivated and
the bottom of the area broken, for
the plant to secure it's food from. It
VII! be seen at once that breaking the
land five inches deep and cultivating
four inches deep leaves little room
for root development and a very
poor plant is to be expected
Cultivation Should follow chopping
as soon as possible as the plants
are left without support and can be
very easily damaged by heavy rains
and high winds. The first cultiva-
age, but all later civilizations should
never be more than one and one-halt
inches deep. The scrape with q
scooter going deep in the soil will
break many feeding roots, and is the
poorest type of implement that can
be used for cultivation.
A sweep that can be regulated to
run shallow is better implement but
is hard to use in rough land. The
single stock pillow is very slow and
inefficient and adds greatly to the
cost Of production.
Among the one-horse implements
the Planet Jr. type does excellent
work. 1t is combination tool and
can be used for bedding as we'll as
cultivating. With small sweeps at
tached this implement covers a larger
oil cd LIldu d Single STOCK ana runs
shallow, being very easy to handle
with little experience.
A riding two-horse cultivator of
the pivot axle type is the best imple-
ment to use where the lay of the land
will permit. 1t is a combination tool
and can be used for laying off rows,
bedding. land, opening up rows and
cultlvating. Disk, spring tooth and
gang attachments for turner's and
sweeps can be secured with most
makes. These machines are light of
draft, easy to guide, and can be reg
ulated to cultivate as shallow as de-
sired. The rapidity with which fields
can be covered lowers the cost of Gull
tlvatfon considerably, since one COM
plete row is worked at each passage
and the labor of one man is saved.
Cotton should be cultivated after
each rain and no more land should
be planted in cotton than can be gone
over rapidly. Cultivation should be
very rapid in the spring to force
rapid growth and conserve moisture.
When there are extremely long dry
spells, cotton should be cultivated
before the next rain, as this adds in
conserving the scanty supply of
moisture.
In many sections there lisa a tendency
to quit cultivation too early in the
summer, but cultivation should ex-
tend late into the year and be very
shallow.