. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 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.—Recen
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 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 from 100 to ,500 pounds, depending on the skill of the picker. One man can very easily care for the cultivation of twenty acres of cotton, but it requires two to four pickers to harvest such a crop rapidly enough to prevent loss. This extra labor in harvest time is usually supplied by the wives and children of the laborers. The harvest season extends over a period of about four months, beginning August 15 to September 10, acco
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