[Illustration: FIG. 184. COTTON IN THE GROWING SEASON]
There are a great many varieties of cotton. Two types are mainly grown by the practical American farmer. These are the short-stapled, upland variety most commonly grown in all the Southern states, and the beautiful, long-stapled, black-seeded sea-island type that grows upon the islands and a portion of the mainland of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The air of the coast seems necessary for the production of this latter variety. The seeds of the sea-island cotton are small, smooth, and black. They are so smooth and stick so loosely to the lint that they are separated from it by roller-gins instead of by saw-gins. When these seeds are planted away from the soil and air of their ocean home, the plant does not thrive.
Many attempts have been made and are still being made to increase the length of the staple of the upland types. The methods used are as follows: selection of seed having a long fiber; special cultivation and fertilization; crossing the short-stapled cotton on the long-stapled cotton. This last process, as already explained, is called _hybridizing_. Many of these attempts have succeeded, and there are now a large number of varieties which excel the older varieties in profitable yield. The new varieties are each year being more widely grown. Every farmer should study the new types and select the one that will best suit his land. The new types have been developed under the best tillage. Therefore if a farmer would keep the new type as good as it was when he began to grow it, he must give it the same good tillage, and practice seed-selection.
[Illustration: FIG. 185. COTTON READY FOR PICKING]
The cotton plant is nourished by a tap-root that will seek food as deeply as loose earth will permit the root to penetrate; hence, in preparing land for this crop the first plowing should be done at least with a two-horse plow and should be deep and thorough. This deep plowing not only allows the tap-root to penetrate, but it also admits a circulation of air.
On some cotton farms it is the practice to break the land in winter or early spring and then let it lie naked until planting-time. This is not a good practice. The winter rains wash more plant food out of unprotected soil than a single crop would use. It would be better, in the late summer or fall, to plant crimson clover or some other protective and enriching crop on land that is to be planted in cotton in the spring. This crop, in addition to keeping the land from being injuriously washed, would greatly help the coming cotton crop by leaving the soil full of vegetable matter.