SAM FARMER’S COTTON

[Music] [Music] uh oh we are it's cotton picking time in dick on the highways everywhere one sees fields on hillside and hollow fight with opening cotton bowls nimble fingers gather the seed cotton into bags and the songs of the pickers float on the hazy autumn air this is sam farmer's place and this is his cotton feed pretty poor poor pretty cool his land seems to get poorer each year and what does the poor stand and the insects and diseases you can't blame him for wondering whether he'll ever be able to grow another good crop and to think that he's again promised mary that they would improve their home this year as the prophet now you've got to break sad news to mary when the interest on the mortgage the taxes the doctor's bills have been paid there won't be a sense for but improvements can take early in the morning sam takes his first load of cotton to the gin goes up the suction like good cup comes down the chute just like good cotton seeds the veil from the crest looks like a bale of good coffee it's weighed and tagged like good cotton but the jello says it's not so good how much of it was picked too green and too wet so it's badly gin covered but then sam always sticks his cotton as fast as it opens he can't be bothered with waiting half of every day for you to dry so the buyer doesn't think too much for sale either statement barely seven eight badly gin cuts a step below today's market is no sir i'm not going to sell my cotton to this man the second buy are also critical of sam's bail what sent below the market nothing doing i'm not giving my cotton away and the third buyer makes it unanimous these buyers must know what it will bring at the mill well sam might just as well sold the first buyer for his short statement cut cotton just won't bring the market price here comes john jones a good neighbor of sam and a very successful farmer he sells his bail for one and a half cents above the marshall price why because it's not gin cut and cools one and one sixteenth inch stable money talks in any language and even sam's eyes are open when he sees his neighbor get two and a half cents per pound more than he does yes sam and he's making over a bale an acre more than twice what you expect to make how did he do it by using pedigree's seed and by following improved methods learned from the south carolina five acres cotton improvement content early morning at the former homestead and these are mary's chickens they're good layers too like many other farmers mary helps to keep the farm growing by selling farm and home produce at the home demonstration club market at the county seat discouraged aren't you sam well let's hope mary gets a good price for her producer that'll help out some want it ender miss brown county home demonstration agents who had been helping men for improving the farm home no miss brown on account of the poor cotton crop we won't be able to do anything to improve our home this year mary why don't you have your husband see mr smith the county agent he's helped numbers of farmers in the county to improve their cotton production methods don't think about it mary may be worth trying look here watch this there is taking matters into her own hands will the county agent come by their farm and help sam overcome his cotton troubles he knows that sam's worried and will listen to him now the county agent understands and within the next day or two he dives in yes mr smith those eggs are the results of the good poultry management practices mary has learned from music and what she hopes now is that you can do as well with sam where is seth he's over yonder in the field all right i'll go and see i must be very diplomatic fine-tune the music sam you should be proud of it but what about that coffee come on let's take a look at the crop not much good that cotton is it well let's see what's the matter with it in the first place fam this cocktail stick early in the morning while it was still wet and huge cotton like this should be spread out and allowed to dry in the sun bowls should always be well opened before they are picked half open and cracked bowls should be left for later results and records from five acre contest demonstrations have shown that highest yields are made where rows are 36 inches apart or closer these measure 44 inches that's too far apart field demonstrations show that highest yields are made where two to four stalks are left for hill in hills six to eight inches or whole width apart stop your stand too thin leaving only one stalk to the hill 12 to 15 inches apart this accounts in part for your low yield how come sam you have such a poor stand many of the seeds didn't come up here and many of the young plants died before they made any growth well a simple seed treatment and the proper placement of fertilizer will do much to correct that now listen to the county agent carefully he's telling you that planting seed should always be tested for germination before being planted and sam did you poison for the bull weevil no well this is the result much of the cotton stalk is bare of fruit as a result of weevil damage at a cost of about 50 cents per acre for materials the weevil can be controlled with calcium arsenic molasses poison cheap insurance against weevil damage eh now let's stop here a moment see where the plants have lost their leaves they are badly affected with rust some dolomitic limestone and more potash in the cotton fertilizer will correct that and of course sam plants that die during the growing season do not produce cotton the trouble here is wilt and a wilt resistant variety should be planted where this occurs your soil is washing away sam build some good terraces and adopt a cropping program that will control erosion and conserve the soil back of all good yields of cotton is soil building this soil needs organic matter which can be supplied through crop rotation and the use of soil building crops sam you should grow a cover crop this fall on next year's cotton land now let's look at this cotton hmm very short staple where'd you get your planting seed so you saved them from year to year at the public gin and you haven't bought any new seed for several years that's bad cotton naturally runs out after several years planting and when seeds are saved at a public gin they are always mixed with other feed of different varieties sam you need to buy some pedigreed seed and have your planting seed gin separately the cotton mills prefer 1 to 1 and 1 16 inch staple and south carolina cotton manufacturers association has sponsored the 5-acre cotton contest in order to encourage the production of this staple by the forms of south carolina you would better enter the contest sam and follow the recommended practices so now we find sam with a new enthusiasm he starts this fall by seeding the recommended cover crop of rye and austrian peas on next year's cotton land he also joins the county soil conservation association the association's machinery starts work and the terracing of sam's rolling lands soon will control the erosion well well sam here we find you in the county agent's office eh pretty good fellow after all isn't he do you want to know what variety of seed to plant next year the experiment station and field results will decide that be sure though to buy enough pedigreed seed from a reliable breeder to plant five acres you would better get the seed for the rest of the crop from neighbor jones he's been planting pedigreed seed and having them gin free from mixing for several years that's right you must send an order for the pedigreed seed and here's the seed at the railway station and now we'd better stop by and get the rest of the planting seed from neighbor jones the mailman's been here eh come on let us read it too oh from the county agent a community meeting at the school house a specialist on field props from the state extension service is going to discuss improved methods of cotton fertilization and production and sam is right there for the meeting these extension specialists back up the county agents in giving farmers the right dope on better methods of farming now let's listen to this talk and here we come to ten points in cotton production one soil building for erosion control and use of legumes and cover crops two well-prepared seeds three use of a fertilizer balanced to fit the needs of the crop four proper placement of fertilizer five plant plenty of tested treated seed of a variety that will produce one inch to one and one sixteenth inch staple six close rows with thick spacing rolls seven poison for ball weevil eight side dress growing crop with quickly available nitrate fertilizer nine frequent and shallow cultivation 10. thick and gin only dry mature cotton now let's see if sam follows his advice and sure enough here he is early in the fall he cuts the cotton stock then early in the spring he plows under the cover crops then he prepares the land by thorough harrowing back in the county agent's office for some advice on fertilizer eh well he knows all about your soil requirements and the needs of a cotton crop and here's the formula all written out here's the fertilizer being put down remember the rows are only 36 inches apart the fertilizer is mixed with the soil with a bull tongue plow which follows the fertilizer distributor then a good seed bed is prepared by betting on the fertilizer then the beds are harrowed down this is how cotton planting seed are treated with mercury dust to control seed borne diseases look out there sam don't mash his finger then the new seed are planted and in due time a good stand of healthy plants is ready for chopping now let's see if sam follows the county agent's design the young plant should not be chopped too thin two to four stalks of hill in hills six to eight inches or whole width apart pam you're an artist with a hoe first side dressing a quickly available ammonia is applied right after chopping and just ahead of the first cultivation when the squares are the size of a feed the cotton plants are poisoned for bowl correct mixture of one gallon of water one gallon of black crab molasses and one pound of calcium arsenic the council marshmallows has been mixed with a little water to form a paste then the rest of the water and the molasses should be added and the mixture stirred some only the amount of poison that can be used in one day should be mixed at one time and it will burn the cotton leaves is allowed to stand from one day to the next is made by wrapping a piece of corporate fact around the stick and tying it hold it in place the poison is applied with the moss extra care being taken to get it under the leaves of the plant let's hope all the evils get a full dose off the second application should be made four or five days after the first and the third four or five days after the second these poisonings should still reduce infestation that sam will have a crop the number and time of cultivation will depend on whether the second side venting a quickly available ammonia is applied when the cotton is about knee-high and begins fruiting heavily i am proud to show this cotton look how well it's brutal prospector over bale and acre it's cotton picking time again sam farms the pickles are told to kick only the fully open mature bowls and leave the half open bowls for a later picture the cotton that is picked early in the morning put in small tiles and spread out first man of cheese cotton soon be at the gym well mary looks as though you won't have to carry water from the well much longer and that's not all just new ways good cotton bay yes we know it is good time of the best bays we've been this year one and one half sent above the marketplace well we'll let you have it back yes mr county agent you you and we use the fam to do it if you follow the rules but how about the 5 8 content first we'll measure the selection area then we will count the gold and take hold faster to determine the statement almost as accurate as weighing the cotton to the feed let's not forget the planting fee for next year sam saves several days of speed content from the pedigreed speed until late in the season when the dinning light is over and has the dinner dropped the road the seat is now free from interior varieties and he has enough to clean his entire phones another letter what is it this time oh come on let us you know what we've earned one of the district's prizes from the five-acre cotton demonstration now isn't that another farmers meeting is sam on the front seat you know you really should have given a nice response to that presentation but then you are such a modest good we know what you and mary plan to do with that money better days have come to some pharmacy through seeking out and following the best farm practices sam and mary have been able to acquire for their farm homes many of the comforts and conveniences that tend to take the drudgery and monotony out of life on the farm there is satisfaction that comes from long hours of labor may be cheerfully and even found pleasurable one may look forward to an ensured and edited return such as you find in the story of sam farmer pottery [Music] you