36 



Q. Does your present field look promising ? 



A. Beautiful. The land is composed of hard dry clay, and sandy 



soil. 



Q, Are you aware of any person competing with you in the rearing 



of cotton. 



A. No one, to my knowledge. 



Instructions for Planting Cotton. 

 By T. J. Harris. 



Cotton should not be planted in districts where the wet and dry 

 seasons are not well defined, as uncertain weather is ruinous to the crop. 



Soil. — A light sandy loam is the most suitable soil, though the plants 

 grow luxuriantly in rich heavy soil if allowed sufficient room to 

 develop, yielding, however, a smaller crop of cotton per acre. 



Preparation of land — The land should be thoroughly forked or close 

 ploughed east and west, and the clods well broken afterwards Furrovvs 

 about six inches deep, and four feet apart, should be made if the sod is 

 light and rather poor, and five to five and a half feet if the land rich ; 

 this time working north and south. 



Sowing. — The seeds should be sown in July, as sion as possible after 

 the furrows are made, the number of sowers being sufficient to 

 keep up with the ploughman who is making the furrows. Each sower 

 should be provided with a measuring stick ; the stick to be 15 in. long 

 for the 4 ft. apart rows, and 2 ft for the wider planting in rich soil. 

 At the spot where the plant is to grow, tie soil is drawn away with 

 the fingers to the depth of 1^ inches and four inches wide ; five to 

 eight seeds are sown and lighily covered, pressing the soil down some- 

 what firmly with the fingers if it happens to be rather dry. 



Supplies^As a rule the seeds germinate in four or five days, and at 

 the end of two weeks a few of the rows should be examined as to 

 whether supplies are needed ; if any of the holes have failed, the 

 whole field should be gone through and supplies sown at once. 



Cultivation. — In a few weeks, depending on the weather, weeds will 

 beo-in to show signs of starting into growth; a hoe or cultivator should 

 now be used, repeating as often as necessary throughout the growing 

 period to keep down weeds and to conserve soil moisture. It is well, 

 however, to avoid having a dusty surface when the bolls burst, so 

 cultiva'ion may cease soon after the first bolls have formed. 



Thinning — When the seedlings have developed their second true 

 leiif they should be thinned out to one in a hole, leaving only the 

 strongest plant ; in light friable soil the discarded ont s may be pulled 

 out, but if the soil is sticky and there is danger of disturbing the 

 roots of the one that is to remain, they should be cut off below the 

 two round seed-leaves. 



Mnulding. — Half the soil on each side of 'he furrow should be drawn 

 up to the plmts with a hoe when they have attained the height of 

 nine inches, and the remaining half when the plants are 18 inches 

 to 2 ft high ; in windy situations neglect to mould is fatal, as the 

 plants are very brittle at the collar and liable to snap. 



