670 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



plow were in common use, but vary in shape to suit the conven- 

 ience of the planters, who adapt themselves to the natural features 

 of the surface and character of the soil. If the place to he plant- 

 ed is forest, whether heavy or of only a few years' growth, the 

 laborers, with bill-hooks for the undergrowth and axes for the 

 trees, begin clearing it from one side, felling the trees and under- 

 growth toward the open space, and leaving stumps of any height 

 that may make the work of clearing easier. No effort is made to 

 pile the brush in heaps. This work is done in the dry season, 

 and the brush is allowed to lie for several months, until the ap- 

 proach of the rainy season, when the whole, being thoroughly 

 dried by long exposure to the rays of a very hot sun, is set on fire. 

 The want of arrangement of the branches permits the burning of 

 all the leaves and of the small limbs, twigs, etc., but the larger 

 branches and the trunks of the fallen trees are only blackened by 

 the passing fire. A more desolate sight than one of these " new 

 grounds " can not be imagined. Sometimes a few of the half- 

 burned pieces are piled together and set on fire, but usually they 

 are allowed to lie where they happen to have fallen. The soil is 

 now ready for the seed. The laborers go over the field with large, 

 heavy hoes, and with powerful blows open holes to receive the seeds 

 at intervals more or less irregular. The cotton seeds are planted 

 in these holes, and with the foot or hand covered with a little 

 earth. The spaces between the hills are generally supposed to be 

 from five to eight palms, according to the fertility of the soil. 

 Sometimes rows are attempted in a rude, rambling way, and in 

 such cases the hills are about six palms apart in one direction and 

 eight in the other, according as the stumps and logs and half- 

 consumed limbs may permit. 



The planting season varies in different localities according to 

 the time when the rains generally set in. Most of it is done in 

 the months of February and March, though planting-time may 

 vary a month or two either way, according to the season and the 

 nature of the ground, low, rich soil generally being planted later 

 than the dry uplands. Difference is also made with the kind of 

 cotton, the tree cotton generally being planted a month or two 

 earlier than the herbaceous. Sometimes other things are planted 

 between the rows of cotton, such as beans, rice, or corn. 



Shortly after the planting the season of rains sets in ,and cot- 

 ton, weeds, sprouts, and all come up and grow with a vigor and 

 rapidity only to be seen in the tropics. When the cotton is about 

 to be choked out by useless vegetation, the hoes are sent to chop 

 it out — an operation that is performed two or three times, or as 

 often as circumstances are supposed to require it, during the year. 

 The amount of cleaning required by a field depends upon the 

 richness of the soil and upon the length and character of the win- 



