uriant plant to branch and fruit
well. On poorer lands the distance of the rows should not be so great.
The distribution of the seed in the row is of course most cheaply done
by the planter. As a rule it is best not to ridge the land for the seed.
Flat culture saves moisture and often prevents damage to the roots. In
some sections, however, where the land is flat and full of water,
ridging seems necessary if the land cannot be drained.

[Illustration: FIG. 186. PICKING COTTON]

The cheapest way of cultivating a crop is to prevent grass and weeds
from rooting, not to wait to destroy them after they are well rooted. To
do this, it is well to run the two-horse smoothing-harrow over the
land, across the rows, a few days after the young plants are up. Repeat
the harrowing in six or eight days. In addition to destroying the young
grass and weeds, this harrowing also removes many of the young cotton
plants and thereby saves much hoeing at "chopping-out" time. When the
plants are about two inches high they are "chopped out" to secure an
evenly distributed stand. It has been the custom to leave two stalks to
a hill, but many growers are now leaving only one.

The number of times the crop has to be worked depends on the soil and
the season. If the soil is dry and porous, cultivate as often as
possible, especially after each rain. Never allow a crust to form after
a rain; the roots of plants must have air. Cultivation after each rain
forms a dry mulch on the top of the soil and thus prevents rapid
evaporation of moisture.

If the fiber (the lint) only is removed from the land on which cotton is
grown, cotton is the least exhaustive of the great crops grown in the
United States. According to some recent experiments an average crop of
cotton removes in the lint only 2.75 pounds of nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, potash, lime, and magnesia per acre, while a crop of ten bushels
of wheat per acre removes 32.36 pounds of the same elements of plant
food. Inasmuch as this crop takes so little plant food from the soil,
the cotton-farmer has no excuse for allowing his land to decrease in
productiveness. Two things will keep his land in bounteous harvest
condition: first, let him return the seeds in some form to the land, or,
what is better, feed the ground seeds to cattle, make a profit from the
cattle, and return manure to the land in place of the seeds; second, at
the last working, let him sow some crop like crimson clover or rye in
the co