G2 THE LOWER I'INE liKI/r, OR SAVANNA REGION. 



reojulatc the amount of seed sown, and a good hand and nuile will easily 

 ]»lant six acres a day and do it in tlie 1>est manner. The only oljjection to 

 the use of the macliilie is the difliculty of oljtaining n careful hand to 

 work it; simple and easy as it is, practically it is found tlioy allow the 

 seed to give out, plant them too deep, of neglect to cover them — such care- 

 lessness, which may escape notice at the time, resulting as irreparable loss 

 in injury to the stand. On this account much seed is sown in a trench 

 opened on the top of the bed, made with a plow or some implement de- 

 vised for the purpose, or in holes chopped at proper intervals with a hoe. 

 The latter method has the advantage of spacing the plants more accu- 

 rately than can be done after they come up, by chopping them out with a 

 hoe. Planting takes place about the 10th of April. The seed appear above 

 ground in five to ten days, altliough when late planted, in dry time, 

 they may remain in the ground for four weeks, and when the rain 

 comes, still give a good stand. The work of chopping out the plants 

 in the drill, to a stand twelve to fifteen inches apart, is commenced 

 as soon as they are firmly set, that is when they have a height of 

 five inches, and the third, or first true leaf makes its appearance. 

 It is desirable to complete the thinning early in June, in order 

 that the plants may spread when the forms or squares are making 

 their appearance. The after cultivation consists usually of four hoeings 

 and four plowings, to keep the plant' free from grass and the surface 

 soil light and porous. These are completed from the last of July to 

 the 1st of August. The plant attains a height of ten to fiJteen inches 

 before blooming, and the first blooms make their appearance from the 

 1st to 20th of June. The first open bplls are seen from the last of 

 July to the middle of August. Picking commences from the middle 

 of xVugust to the 1st of September. By the 10th of November the 

 cotton is generally all picked. Black frost occurs sometimes as early 

 as the 20tli of October, but is not counted on until the middle of No- 

 vember, and it is sometimes deferred as late as the middle or end of 

 December. 



Cotton attains a height of two to four feet, and is most productive at 

 three feet. Fresh upland, unmanured, yields from 300 to 1,000 pounds 

 of seed cotton, the average being safely set at 600 pounds. Under good 

 cultivation, even without manure, five crops may be taken without 

 diminishing the yield ; 1,200 pounds of seed cotton is thought, on an 

 average, to yield a bale of 400 pounds of lint, and the estin\ates of the 

 amount required for this purpose range from 1,000 to 1,300 pounds. 

 It is thought by some that the staple on old is shorter than on fresh land, 

 but so nice a point is difficult to decide, and there is no general opinion 

 upon the subject. 



