100 THE PIEDMONT REGION. 



cluster variety of cotton, kiiowu under the name of Dickson's improved, 

 or Boyd's prolific. It is rather a delicate plant, a prolific bearer, 

 of early maturity, and a short staple. Carefully sown, one bushel of seed 

 will plant an acre, though as much as three and sometimes five bu.shels 

 are used. With a planter, two bushels answer, and two to two and one- 

 half may be taken as the average. Most of the seed is sown by hand, in 

 a furrow opened by a small plow, and covered by various devices of 

 boards, propelled by hand or by a horse. On the smooth, well-prepared 

 land, planters, especially the Dowdow, are much used and well thought 

 of. The seed comes up in four to ten days in favorable seasons ; late 

 plantings* in dry seasons are longer in appearing, and may not come up 

 in a month, and then give a good stand. This occurrence is always a 

 misfortune, as it not only retards the crop, but allow's the grass a chance 

 to overtake it. As soon as the stand is perfected, thinning commences, 

 and the cotton is chopped out with a hoe to spaces varying from six 

 inches on thin lands to eighteen inches on the strongest, usually to nine 

 inches and twelve inches. 



The after cultivation consists in keeping the ground light and lo(jse by 

 the use of the plow, and in keeping the grass out of the row with the hoe. 

 A great variety of plows are u^sed for this purpose — twisters, turn-plows, 

 shovels and harrows ; the later workings, when the plant is fruiting, are 

 usually given by passing twdce through the row with a sweep, which 

 skims the surface. Generally there are four plowings, and four hoeings ; 

 sometimes three answer.. 



When the plant is ten inches to fifteen inches high — usually about the 

 1st of July — it begins to bloom, though blooms are sometimes noticed as 

 early as the loth of June. Open bolls appear about the middle of Augui^ ; 

 in favorable seasons they are sometimes seen the last of July, and at other 

 times not until the 1st of September. Although in some instances the 

 plant grows as high as four feet to five feet, the height at which it is 

 thought to be most productive here is from two feet to three feet. Pick- 

 ing may commence about the 25th of August, but it is not in full blast 

 until the 1st to 20th of September. The crop is gone over three to four 

 times, and it is all out of the field by Christmas ; sometimes as early as 

 the 20th of November. 



DISEASE AND ENEMIES. 



In its early growth, unless in exceptionally windy and cold seasons, 

 or through bad hoeing, cotton does not suffer here at all from " sore shin." 

 Nor does it often run to weed ; in unusually warm and wet seasons, or on 

 strong fresh land this may occur ; cultivation and manuring are thought 



