3. NOTES.

1. America produces more cotton than any other country. Strangely enough, much of the cotton produced in this country, and nearly all that is grown in Egypt, India, China, Brazil, and other cotton-growing countries, is shipped to England, France, or Germany to be manufactured into thread and fabrics. New York, Boston, Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, and Galveston are leading ports from which cotton is exported.

2. It is only of late years that the seed of cotton has been utilized. The lard, the lubricating oils, the stock foods, and the fertilizers now made from them give them a commercial value of from twenty to forty cents per bushel. The stems of the plants make a fine grade of linen paper.

3. Following are the distinct types of cotton: (1) cluster; (2) long limbed; (3) long staple; (4) short staple. There are many varieties of each type. The short staple is best adapted to upland. The long staple requires a special soil and a favorable season.

LESSON XX.

WHEAT.

I.

Wheat will grow well in many kinds of soil, and in cold, temperate, and warm climates. The grain supplies food for both man and beast. The bran, as the wheat hull is called, is a good food for animals; while the straw is not only a stock food, but is used in making paper, in making straw hats, strawboard, and many other useful things. These facts make it clear why wheat is grown by the people of so many countries and in climates differing so widely.

Some farms will produce many more bushels of wheat to the area than others. This difference in yield depends chiefly upon difference in soil, difference in climate, and difference in the methods employed by those who plant and harvest this useful crop. A heavy growth of straw sometimes bears a small supply of imperfect grain. The wise farmer knows there is a reason or cause for this. He knows that his soil needs minerals.

To supply these, he has loads of bones ground to meal and spreads this over his fields. He knows that in Florida and the Carolinas there are great beds of glassy-looking rocks called phosphoric rocks

or phosphoric beds.

These rocks contain phos

phoric acid, and when pulverized they form a good mineral fertilizer which is shipped to all parts of the country. From bones, and from phosphoric rocks, then, he knows that one of the minerals (phosphoric acid) needed by his soil can be obtained.

Potash is the other mineral that plants use largely, and this he knows is contained in wood ashes, which he also hauls and spreads on his soil.

On the other hand, if the plant shows a small blade or spindling stem, if it lacks in vigor and color, he knows that nitrogen should be added to the soil, and he spreads barnyard manure, cottonseed meal, dried blood, etc., over it, for these all contain the needed nitrogen.

Barnyard manure not only contains nitrogen stored in its vegetable matter (humus), but it also contains a small amount of phosphoric acid and potash, and is an excellent fertilizer for thin or badly worn soil. It is well to cover this fertilizer by plowing it under.

Some fertilizers may be scattered over the surface of the field and covered by harrowing, or they may be drilled in the earth near the grain.

Every farmer finds it profitable to study the character of the soil he is cultivating and the character of the fertilizer it may require.

2.

The time for seeding land in wheat depends chiefly upon climate. In some latitudes, mainly northern, almost the entire acreage is seeded in the spring of the year; in other latitudes seeding is done in the fall.

Wheat planted in the fall, and harvested the following summer, is called fall wheat; while wheat that is planted in the spring and harvested in the summer is called spring wheat.

Successful wheat growers in many countries plow the ground a month or more before seeding time. They think that early plowing allows the soil to become firm and compact and the moisture to rise nearer the surface, so that the wheat will come up more promptly if there should be a drought. They think, too, that early plowing renders the plant foods of the soil in a condition in which the plants can more readily use them, and that it largely frees the soil from insect eggs that may have been deposited.

If a drought is feared, it is well to harrow the land as soon as it is plowed. This will create a coating or mulch of mellow top soil which will arrest the escape of moisture through evaporation. Land early plowed should be disked, or cultivated,

and well mellowed before it is seeded. Seeding is done best and cheapest with a drill.

The wheat used for seed should be sound and free from foreign seed. The soil may be left somewhat uneven on the surface after seeding.

3. NOTES.

1. There is a wide difference in the methods of

harvesting wheat. The method to be used will depend largely upon the physical features of the country, the climate, etc. In some localities the crop is headed, and the heads are either hauled and placed in heaps for a time, or else they are hauled direct to a thresher, where the grain is threshed from them and placed in sacks. In other localities the wheat is cut and bound into bundles, called sheaves. Eight to twenty of these sheaves are placed together in an upright position to form shocks. The shocks are usually allowed to stand in the field for some days, so that the straw may cure and the grain dry. The crop is then either hauled to the machine and threshed, or else placed in a stack, or in bulk under a shed.

2. Wheat placed in bulk, either before it has been threshed, or after threshing, soon passes into