SPECIAL CROPS. 2U 



around the stand. Keep the ploAVS running until the middles 

 are all broken out. Manag3 now to get over your ground once 

 in two weeks with the scraper. This is light work, and the 

 teams should be urged to a brisk pace. Eapid movements are 

 now required. 



The common corn cultivator will answer tbe purpose on light 

 lauds, where it is not necessary to ridge high ; but the "cotton 

 sweep" is better. Any thing that kills the weeds, and tends to 

 throw the earth up to the ridges, if kept moving rapidly, will 

 answer the purpose. During the very hot weather of July and 

 August, the teams should be in the field at the earliest dawn, 

 and rest from eleven until two or three o'clock, the mules hav- 

 ing shade and dry fodder. Or, better, if the planter has an 

 extra mule or two, to let them work only half the day. At 

 this season, buttermilk should be provided for the laborers. 

 Nothing is more nourishing and cooling. One cow to Cv^ery 

 three or four persons, should be a part of the stock on tvery 

 cotton plantation. When the plants begin to interlock across 

 the rows, haul off the cultivators and let it alone until the time 

 for PICKING. This commences from the first of August to the 

 middle of September, according to the soil, the season, and the 

 cultivation. For at least four months, the chief business, to 

 which every thing else must yield, is picking. Every available 

 hand should be employed — for the hands required to cultivate 

 the cotton will not suffice in picking time. 



We give below the gist of the directions recorded by Joseph 

 B. Lyman, of Louisiana, the author of a most excellent statisti- 

 cal and practical work on cotton. " Start the pickers as soon 

 as you can see a half dozen open balls down the row. Each 

 hand should have a bag and a basket, the bag fastened about 

 the neck and adapted to the height and strength of the picker. 

 Activity is now required, and women, with their quick fingers, 



