COTTON. 391 



reliable sources, since quite as much depends upon the quality of the seed, in the result of the 

 future crop, as the soil and cultivation afterwards received. 



Not only will the unfavorable conditions of soil, cultivation, etc., cause a deterioration in 

 the quality of cotton-seed the same as with other plants but there is also an equal necessity 

 of an occasional change of seed ; the constant use of the same seed year after year produced 

 from the same soil having a tendency to deteriorate the quality of the crop, even with the best 

 cultivation. 



Careless and indifferent cultivation is, however, one of the surest causes of deterioration ; 

 hence, it is of the utmost importance that not only the best variety of seed be secured for the 

 crop, but that it be such as was produced on good soil, and under the most favorable condi 

 tions of cultivation. 



It is a principle in nature that &quot;like produces like,&quot; and with the cotton, as well as with 

 all crops, the best seed of the variety most adapted to the condition of culture in which the 

 crop is to be grown will produce the most remunerative results. By careful and improved 

 systematic culture, the cotton crop of the South will doubtless in a few years be double that 

 of its present or former average yield on a given area. An improved agricultural system, 

 the proper amount and kind of fertilizers, together with the use of modern agricultural 

 implements which have been and are being introduced, will develop the agricultural resources 

 of this section of our country, and the possibilities of the cotton crop, to almost an incredible 

 extent. There is no portion of the civilized world, and no equal extent in the cotton-growing 

 zone, so peculiarly adapted to the culture of cotton as some portions of the Southern States, 

 especially those of the Gulf coast; there being found the rare combinations of large areas, 

 with soil of requisite quality, the temperature required, together with the degree of humidity 

 necessary; all of which are so essential to its perfect development and most successful 

 culture. 



Soil, and its Preparation. The cotton plant is less exacting than most crops with 

 respect to soil. If properly managed, it will thrive well on a variety of soils and on those of 

 a widely different character. 



It will also admit of being re-planted on the same lands for a greater number of succes 

 sive years than almost any other crop, although a judicious rotation produces the best 

 results. For upland cottons, the best soils are generally conceded to be a rich loam, a clayey 

 loam, and silicious soil with a clay subsoil. 



This crop, with good culture, is also very productive on sandy soils underlaid by sand 

 stone or limestone rocks, and the rich alluvial deposits of bottom lands. With respect to the 

 wide range of soils suited to its successful cultivation, we quote the following, translated from 

 an eminent French authority, Guide Pratique de la Culture du Coton, par le Dr. Adrien Sicard, 

 Secretaire General de la Societe d 1 Horticulture, etc., of Paris. 



&quot; If we exclude lands composed of compact clays, with a soil of no depth and an imper 

 meable subsoil, we shall have eliminated from the vast variety of them, all soils which will 

 not produce cotton. Indeed, recent studies and investigations have proved that, with the 

 use of an appropriate fertilizer and proper cultivation, where the climate admits of the 

 maturity of the bolls, cotton can be more or less profitably grown on all kinds and qualities 

 of land. Thus, on the rocky sides of the mountains of Hindostan, in Africa, and on the dry 

 hills of the West India islands, in soils which are too light and thin to produce any other 

 crop, cultivators grow and make good crops of cotton. Further, cotton is so indifferent to 

 the quality of land producing it that it grows almost equally as well on the rich loams of 

 Egypt, in the pure clays of Syria, in the sands of Arabia, and on the volcanic fields of Sicily ; 

 while on the sandy second beaches of Georgia and the Carolinas the best cotton in the world 

 is produced.&quot; 



Soils deficient in the mineral element are not suited to the successful production of this 

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