THE CANADIAN HORTICULTRIST. 73 



plants being thinned out witli a hoe, and the weeds subsequently kept 

 down mainly by hand cidtivation. The picking is done by the negroes, 

 who work by the job, 50 cents per hundred lbs. being tlie usual jirice 

 paid for picking; men, women and children are all engaged more or less 

 in this work in season. The fresh picked cotton, containing all the 

 seed imbedded in it, is taken to the cotton gins, where it is cleansed 

 from the seed; the operator taking one-fifteenth part of the cotton and 

 seed for his pay. At these establishments the cotton is also pressed 

 and packed in bales ready for shipment. The seed, which contains a 

 great deal of oil, is sent in large quantities to various cities in the 

 Union, where the oil is pressed out. There is also a large amount 

 exported to foreign countries for the same purpose; Init the seed being 

 produced much in excess of any demand, either domestic or foreign, 

 the greater portion of the crop is used as a fertilizer. To prepare it 

 for this purpose it is fermented in heaps, and when decomposed is 

 mixed with phosphates. The soil enriched with this mixture is 

 rendered much more fertile, and the succeeding crop heavier in pro- 

 portion. 



Next in importance to cotton is corn, which is very extensively 

 grown, and forms the staple food of the poorer class of the inhabitants, 

 both white and black. There are also some very large sheep farms in 

 this neighborhood ; the parties engaged in such enterprises usually own 

 large tracts of land, and as the animals need no shelter during the 

 winter, they only see their sheep as a whole once a year, when they 

 are brought together to be sheared and branded. 



Although not related in FiUy way to horticulture, I cannot forbear 

 a reference to the mineral productions of the northern portions of these 

 States, which are very interesting. Gold and copper is found in many 

 places along the line. Xear Charlotte, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, 

 near the centre of the southern margin of North Carolina, we saw a 

 number of small pits, where the negroes had been washing the earth 

 for gold, which had been brought to the surface by the recent rains. 

 Both gold and copper mines are now being profitably worked here. 

 Precious stones are also found in this district; Corundum, and its sub- 

 varieties. Sapphire, Euby, Hyacinth, nnd Topaz ; Diamonds also are 

 occasionally picked up. One of tin hk ~r remarkable mineral products 

 is Stracolumonite, or elastic sandsiune, which admits of being consider- 

 al)ly bent without breaking; it is in a laminated foim, the layers easily 



