Excerpt from Production of Acala Cotton in the San Joaquin Valley of California Soils that will grow good crops of alfalfa and other deep-rooted field crops will grow good cotton. A medium-sandy loam is the ideal type, since it is more easily worked and absorbs and holds water better, though large yields have been obtained from sandy and heavy land. Cotton will stand a small amount Of alkali, but good crops are not to be expected from alkaline or hardpan soils. Where hardpan is less than 3 feet from the surface the roots do not develop normally, and water is required more frequently. On good land when the plants are well grown the bolls are larger and Open more widely, so that picking is easier, and the fiber is of better and more uniform quality. Some farmers have the idea that land which has been in alfalfa or pasture for several years should not be planted to cotton, because the cotton may grow too large and fail to open its bolls before frost. Although this sometimes oc curs on rich land with a high water-holding capacity, the highest yields of cotton in the San Joaquin Valley have usually been oh tained from fields previously in alfalfa or other leguminous crops. The use of cowpeas, vetches, and melilotus has increased rapidly in the last few years. Ordinarily, less water is required to grow a crop of cotton on rich alfalfa land; for this reason greater precaution is necessary in applying irrigation to avoid too luxuriant growth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.