SPECIAL CROPS. 215 



prove the cotton seed, and your staple is directly augmented in 

 value. One advantage of this system of generous manuring, 

 is the improvement of the seed, and consequently an increase 

 in the length and fineness of the staple ; for an excellent quality 

 and an abundant yield of cotton wool can no more be expected 

 from seech that are dwarfish, than large clips of wool from sheep 

 that are dwarfed." 



Having then good seed, in good condition, and prepared for 

 planting, put it in with a drill, or cotton seed planter, if you 

 can (beg, borrow, steal, or) buy one. These implements are 

 now made to combine a small harrow, which goes in front of 

 the ridge and breaks the crust ; a drill that makes a furrow for 

 the seed; awheel that distributes the seed evenly at any re- 

 quired distances ; and a scraper that follows, and covers them 

 evenly, levelling the surface on either side. Fifteen to twenty 

 acres of cotton per day can be planted with it. It can also be 

 used to sow any kind of seeds. A common corn planter can be 

 arranged to put in cotton seed much faster and better than it 

 can be done by hand. If you can by no contrivance get a drill 

 or planter, mark out the rows with the implement we have 

 described on page 212; let the hands follow close behind it 

 and drop the seed, three or four in a place, at distances 

 of thirty to thirty-six inches apart, (under our system of 

 manuring ; under the ordinary system, twenty to twenty -four 

 inches apart,) in the drills. Cover with a drag made of a piece 

 of plank, and drawn along the ridge. Here are four operations, 

 requiring the whole field to be gone over four times ; when, with 

 a cotton seed planter, costing only from thirty to forty dollars, 

 the whole can be done at one operation. This, wnere time is so 

 valuable, and every day's delay indicates the loss of a day's 

 picking at the other end of the season, is a small item indeed. 

 Ingcrsoll's is the best cotton planter we have seen, but it can be 



