6. Plant the seed as early as the season will permit, in rows just about
as wide apart as the cotton usually grows tall in the average season.
7. Commence to cultivate the young cotton just as soon as possible, and do
not permit a crust to form or the field to become grassy.
=Reduce the Cotton Acreage:= In many sections of the country, intensive
farming--smaller farms and more thorough cultivation--is being profitably
practiced. In boll weevil territory, we would likewise advocate
"intensive" cotton growing--smaller acreage to cotton with more thorough
cultivation--as a good step toward securing early and profitable cotton
crops. For instance, many farmers in the boll weevil territory are now
producing as much cotton on five acres by following proper methods as they
formerly produced on ten acres, thus leaving half of their land to produce
some other crop.
=Plant on Fertile Soil:= This is one of the necessities in order to
produce an early cotton crop. The land must be well-drained so that it
will warm up early in the spring and retain the heat. It must contain
plenty of humus or vegetable matter to prevent packing. Plenty of
vegetable matter also increases the water-holding capacity of the soil,
thus reducing the loss due to the droughts that may occur in summer. Where
the soil has not enough humus and therefore will not hold a sufficient
amount of water, the cotton crop will stop growing and putting on squares
during a long drought, and will shed the squares and many of the small
bolls already on the stalks.
[Illustration: At left of each pair is a boll weevil. The weevils at the
right are weevils often mistaken for boll weevils.]
The soil may be kept in the proper condition of fertility for cotton by
practicing a suitable rotation of crops, including legumes, and by turning
under the corn stalks, the oat and pea stubble, and the grass.
=Thoroughly Prepare the Soil:= The soil should be plowed deep for the
following reasons: First, to increase the water-holding capacity; second,
to let the water escape from the surface without running over the ground
and washing it off; third, to permit the air to circulate freely for a
considerable depth in the soil; fourth, to secure crops against droughts
by enabling the cotton roots to go down to moisture; fifth, to increase
the area from which plant roots may obtain food. It is advisable to flat
break the land in the fall and winter and then bed it some time before the
planting season. The bed should be disked or harrowed just before planting
the cotton seed, but it is seldom advisable to re-bed the land just before
planting. Cotton comes up quicker, grows off faster and begins bearing
sooner on a well settled, firm seed bed. It is not wise to plant the
cotton on freshly prepared land.
[Illustration: The late cotton is for weevil--not for the farmer. The boll
weevil prevented the above late cotton from making a single boll.]
=Apply Commercial Fertilizers:= Where the soil responds to commercial
fertilizer, it is advisable to make heavy applications to hasten maturity
and increase the yield. It is best to use fertilizers which will stimulate
the fruit rather than stalk growth. High grade, 16 per cent acid phosphate
is the basis for increasing fruit and hastening maturity; cotton seed meal
is usually the basis for stimulating stalk growth. A mixture of two parts
of 16 per cent acid phosphate and one part of 6 per cent cotton seed meal
is a good mixture for cotton on soil of average fertility.
It will usually also pay to mix about ten pounds of nitrate of soda with
every bushel of seed just before it is put into the planter. The nitrate
of soda has a tendency to cause the young cotton to grow vigorously and
resist the bad effects of cool nights. It also usually pays to make a side
application of nitrate of soda just after the cotton has been thinned the
first time.
=Plant Early Varieties:= The production of an early cotton crop requires
carefully selected seed of an early, rapid-fruiting, prolific variety.
This seed may be purchased each year, or selected from cotton plants with
low fruit limbs and short joints on the main stem and fruit limbs. With
the weevil pest to combat, the value of using the earliest and most
prolific seed cannot be over-estimated.
It is advisable for the average farmer to buy the best early varieties
from some reputable breeder and then use every known method to increase
the earliness and productiveness of the cotton. Reports of tests at the
Government Experiment Stations name the earliest and most prolific
varieties of cotton. It is not good business to buy varieties of seed that
have not been shown to be the earliest and most prolific by actual tests
in the fields through a sufficient number of years to eliminate weather
conditions. Seed should not be purchased because of high-sounding names or
exaggerated claims.
=Plant the Seed Early:= Seed should be planted just as early as the season
will permit. This is important in the work of hastening the cotton crop to
early maturity. The weevils do not multiply until the squares begin to
form. They seldom become sufficiently numerous to destroy the squares as
fast as they form, before the last of July. While it is important to plant
as early as the season will permit, do not forget that cotton is a
tropical plant and is badly effected by cold weather.
=Cultivate the Young Cotton:= Cultivation should begin before the cotton
comes up. This may be done by running a steel peg tooth harrow over the
field either at right angles or diagonally across the rows. This helps to
let the young cotton plants through and at the same time kills millions of
tiny weeds and much grass just as they are coming up. The cultivation
should be repeated when the little cotton is about five days old. This
early cultivation kills the grass and weeds in the sprout and forms a soil
mulch all over the field, which holds the moisture in the ground, thus
making the little plants grow more rapidly. Early cultivation with the
harrow will reduce the necessary work with the hoe to the minimum.
If for any reason the peg tooth harrow cannot be used, the ordinary
one-horse harrows should be used to stir the soil on top of the beds just
before the cotton comes up. The harrow or cultivator used will kill the
little grass and weeds and leave a shallow, loose layer of soil on the
surface.
All later cultivation should be made with such implements as the one or
two-horse cultivators, disk harrows and heel sweeps. A turning plow is out
of place in a cotton field unless the soil is devoid of vegetable matter
and runs together after heavy rains or unless it rains for two or three
weeks and it becomes necessary to plow under the grass. If the soil packs
after heavy rains, it may be advisable to use the turning plow as a
necessary evil, especially, when the cotton is young. If it should be
necessary to use it to loosen the soil or to clean out the crop, by all
means avoid deep cultivation late in the season. Be sure to use the
harrow or cultivator a few days after using the turning plow to thoroughly
pulverize the stirred soil and make a dust mulch.
[Illustration: The upper illustration shows a cotton field planted late
and yielding nothing. The lower illustration shows a field on the opposite
side of the turnrow on same plantation, planted early, properly treated,
and yielding three-quarters bale per acre. (Houter, Yearbook, U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture, 1906.)]
The essential thing in the cultivation of the cotton is to keep the ground
free from grass and weeds and covered with a soil mulch. Frequent and
shallow cultivation should be continued until the cotton begins to open.
Most of the benefits of thorough preparation, early, rapid-fruiting seed,
early planting and intensive, shallow cultivation may be lost unless the
fields are given the utmost attention until the cotton begins to open.
Frequent and shallow cultivation late in the season will not result in the
death of many adult weevils, but it will knock many punctured squares to
the hot ground and cause the cotton to remain green and continue to grow
and put on squares to furnish food for the boll weevil. The boll weevil
prefers squares to bolls and as long as the cotton puts on sufficient
squares to furnish it with the necessary food it will not attack many
bolls.
Avoid deep cultivation late in the season, especially close to the cotton.
If the plows cut the roots and cause the cotton to cease to put on squares
the weevil will at once attack the bolls, which would otherwise not be
injured.
[Illustration: More and better corn must be grown in weevil territory.
Above corn grown on I H C farm, Brookhaven, Miss.]