. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. COTTON COTTON 251 is reduced, and the bad effect of drought lessened ; excessive capillary action near the surface is pre- vented, and the plant-food in solution is thus kept from being carried above the root zone and left by evaporation at the surface, where it can be redis- solved and washed away by the heavy rains; a better circulation of air in the interstices of the soil is secured ; a larger proportion of the rainfall. Fig. 359. A bale of cotton, B;iles are of dilTfi-eni sizes and shapes, depending on the apparatns in which they are
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. COTTON COTTON 251 is reduced, and the bad effect of drought lessened ; excessive capillary action near the surface is pre- vented, and the plant-food in solution is thus kept from being carried above the root zone and left by evaporation at the surface, where it can be redis- solved and washed away by the heavy rains; a better circulation of air in the interstices of the soil is secured ; a larger proportion of the rainfall. Fig. 359. A bale of cotton, B;iles are of dilTfi-eni sizes and shapes, depending on the apparatns in which they are pressed; but they usually weigh about 500 pounds. The average yield is about one-third of a bale to the acre. A good crop is oue bale; an extra crop is a bale and a half. goes into the soil instead of running off, conse- quently the loss of fertility by surface washing is lessened, and the plants are thereby enabled to get the benefit of the plant-food and mois- ture in {he soil. Use of heavy seed for planting.—Recent experi- ments by the writers demonstrate the value of sep- arating cotton seed, and planting only the heaviest grade. Plantings of heavy seed have given an increase in yield of over 10 per cent more than plantings of the same seed unseparated. Thor- oughly practical machines and methods of separa- tion have been devised, so that it is now possible for every grower to separate his planting seed at very slight expense. Descriptions of the methods and machines are given in recent publications of the United States Department of Agriculture. Picking. Picking or gathering the cotton in the fields is a heavy item of expense. In upland varieties it amounts to thirty-five to seventy-five cents per hun- dred pounds of seed cotton, and more for sea-island. It must be picked by hand, as no mechanical appli- ance for harvesting has yet been invented which gives satisfactory results in practical working. The amount of cotton that one person can pick in a day varies f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
