1902-1903.] Cotton andits Cultivation, 5? 



hanks of yarn to the pound weight. Thus 40 hanks weighing 

 1 lb. ranks as 40 counts, 60 hanks as 60 counts, 120 hanks 

 as 120 counts, and so on. 



For all spinning of finer counts than 120 Sea Island cotton 

 is used: 120 counts is about the limit of Egyptian spinnings, 

 and Egyptian is next in quality to Sea Island. The staple of 

 this cotton varies from 1| inch to 2 J inches. This is what 

 makes it available for the very finest spinning. 



Upland plantations in Georgia and South Carolina are very 

 much alike, although the soil in Georgia is, as a rule, better 

 than in the latter State. The farms vary from sandy to a red, 

 rather clayey, soil, with good loam in the bottom of the valleys. 

 The products are much the same as on the coast, except in the 

 character of the cotton grown. The land looks poor, but it is 

 cheap, and labour is plentiful and very cheap. The cotton 

 crop is king, the prosperity of the country depending on it. 

 The quality is very different from Sea Island. The staple is 

 short, varying from f inch to 1^ inch, and neither so silky nor 

 so strong. While Sea Island is sold at prices varying accord- 

 ing to the length and fineness of the staple, the upland variety 

 is sold according to colour more than anything else. The 

 whitest and cleanest brings the best price. 



The cultivation is simple, and little capital is required to 

 run the average plantation. The method of cultivation 

 throughout the uplands generally, east of the Mississippi 

 river, is as follows : Cotton is grown year after year on the 

 same land without any rest or rotation of crop, although 

 the best farmers prefer to change the crop occasionally, say 

 once in four or five years. The plough is run straight across 

 a field twice, throwing the surface soil to right and left, 

 and leaving a furrow 4 or 5 inches deep, similar furrows 

 being run at distances of about 3 feet. In the furrows 

 a fertiliser is spread. This is generally a compost of stable 

 litter, cotton seed, leaves, and acid phosphate, the mixture 

 having been allowed to decompose during the previous two 

 or three months. The soil is then thrown back by the 

 plough, to cover the compost and form a ridge about a foot 

 high, with a corresponding depression between each row. 

 The seed is planted on the summit of the ridge by aid of a 

 very simple and cheap machine, drawn by a mule. This 



