soil loss was measured from no-till, no-till plant and cultivate (reduced-till), and conventional-till cotton - all with a winter cover crop of vetch or wheat. soil loss ratios were computed for each crop stage of the tillage systems for use in the usle to estimate soil loss. soil loss from conventionally tilled cotton with winter cover averaged 20 t/ha $center dot$ yr compared with previously measured losses of 74 t/ha $center dot$ yr from conventional cotton without a winter cover crop. the winter cover crop used with conventional tillage was very beneficial in reducing soil loss but not sufficient for reducing erosion below accepted tolerable soil loss limits (11 t/ha $center dot$ yr). no-till and reduced-till cotton did not control erosion as reported previously the addition of vetch or winter wheat cover (in the third year of this test) reduced erosion from cotton to tolerable levels. however, vetch required three applications of paraquat or glyphosate to kill it before planting cotton. wheat was much easier to burn down and was as effective as vetch in reducing erosion. (author abstract) 5 refs