n the cotton goods trade the same care and
aggressiveness will have to be shown in the foreign as in the domestic
trade. England's position today as the foremost exporter of cotton
manufactures is the result of careful study of foreign markets and their
requirements, of catering to the tastes of the people, of aggressive
advertising, of competent foreign salesmen, of reliability in filling
orders, of good packing, and of more or less liberal credit terms.
Manufacturers in the United States will have to follow the same procedure
if this country is to keep her present position in international trade.

CHAPTER VII

Some of the Grower's Problems

Early in the spring, the farm hands begin the work of getting the seed
beds ready. Upland fields have to be terraced, ditched, and drained by an
elaborate process before the work is well begun. Plowing and sub-soiling
are the least of the planter's worries. He must often chop last year's
stalks with a disc harrow or with a stalk cutter. The spike tooth or the
disc harrow must work again after the plowing is finished. It is
customary to plant cotton in a slightly raised bed, in order that
thinning may be more easily done, and that the soil may be more quickly
warmed. Much planting is still done by hand, one man dropping the seeds
in the long straight furrow and another following close behind him with a
hoe, covering them up; but of late years the one-horse planter and the
two-horse combined lister and planter have come into vogue, and, now that
the tractor is both cheap and serviceable, it is possible to plant two or
more rows at a time.

The Long Season of
Intensive Cultivation

When the tiny seedlings first appear above the fragrant mellow soil, the
planter's work is well begun, but it is only begun, for then comes the
season of cultivating and thinning out. As soon as there are two or three
inches of growth, the first cultivation takes place. How many times the
field is cultivated depends on the planter, the nature of the soil, the
availability of labor and other factors. But the general rule is, the
more cultivations, the more cotton. The first cultivation scrapes away
the soil from the plants, leaving them on a small ridge, where the
thinning-out process can easily be done with a hoe. The stalks are left
from fifteen to twenty inches apart in the hill, the rows being usually
about three and a half feet apart. The next cultivation, usually with a
sweep, pushes th