THE UPPER PINE BELT. 89 



the same spot. The rows are rarely under three feet three inches, they 

 average three and a half, and are sometimes four feet, and even five feet, 

 on land making a large growth. The manure is placed in the furrow, and 

 the bed is built up in February and March, the object being to get cotton 

 •seed in and covered as early as possible to prevent its sprouting and heat- 

 ing after planting, which is injurious to the stand. In ]\hirlboro the fer- 

 tilizers are not applied with the cotton seed, but a furrow is run through 

 the bed just before planting and the fertilizer put into it then. The usual 

 practice has been to put the manure in as deeply as possible ; a practical 

 difficulty in accomplishing this arises from the settling of the finely pul- 

 verized and lightly thrown up beds ; and finer and specifically heavier 

 particles of the soil pass through and under the coarser and lighter cotton 

 seed, compost, or stable manure. So that even after the greatest care to 

 cover them deeply has been taken, they disappoint the planter by appear- 

 ing at or near the surface during planting or the subsequent* cultivation 

 of the crop. A very successful practice in Aik^ and Barnwell counties 

 has been to put the manure in a shallow furrow, but to finish the bed by 

 splitting the middle out with a double horse shovel plough running to 

 the depth of fourteen inches. This leaves the sides of the beds and the 

 alley light and loose, and it is kept so by after cultivation. The sweep 

 runs shallow in the harder soil near the plants, and deeper in the looser 

 soil of the alley, and can thus skim the surface and destroy weeds near 

 the plant witliout cutting the roots ; the drainage of the bed is increased, 

 and loose earth is provided, where it alone can be maintained during cul- 

 tivation, in the alley, to absorb atmosj^heric moisture, and to dirt the 

 plant or manure. 



Planting occurs during the month of April, from the 1st to the 30th. 

 Early planting runs the risk of frost, late planting runs the risk of a dry 

 spell, which not unfrequently prevents cotton planted the last of April 

 from coming up before the first of June. These risks are nearly equal, 

 and the early planting has the additional advantage of a longer season 

 for its growth and maturity. Bancroft's or Dicksons's improved cluster 

 cotton seed are generally used ; a prolific cotton, making a good yield of 

 lint, being sought after, without regard to the qualit}' of the staple. Im- 

 proved staples have been produced, and are profitably cultivated by the 

 larger planters who ship it themselves to the North, or Europe. Smaller 



*It appears that particles of the solid earth are not at rest, but are t-ontinually in 

 movement, caving in and settling after rains, &c. So that here the law of specific 

 gravities also operates, and in tlie lapse of time, the diverse components are assorted, 

 finding their true level ascertainly as acork rises or lead sinks in water. In illustration 

 of this law, large quantities of bones, buried two feet deep, in land formerly prepared 

 for vineyards in this region, have, in the course of ten years, worked their way to the 

 surface. 



