90 w ALL' s M A N u A L 



and tlic stalks in the drill should be thinned, so as to 

 stand twelve to twenty inches from each other. The 

 width of the rows, and the distance in the drill, may 

 be increased upon better lands; arid in some cases, on 

 very thin lands, they may be decreased. The rows 

 should be run in such a direction as to give the plant 

 the greatest benefit of the sun from early morn to its 

 setting. Cotton is decidedly a sun-plant." 



THE MODE OF PLANTING. 



Here we have many plans, all setting up claim to 

 Borne peculiar merit. With the preparation of the 

 land we have indicated, it is not necessary to stop to 

 discuss the merits of these modes, or seek to do more 

 than to select some one which we know to answer 

 well. We, therefore, advise the use of a small and 

 very narrow opener. This should be run in the center 

 of the bed, opening a straight furrow, of uniform size 

 and depth. In this the seed should be strewed by a 

 careful hand, scattering them uniformly along the 

 furrow, and just thick enough to secure a good stand 

 the whole length of the row. These should be 

 covered with an iron roller or a good block, three or 

 four inches thick, about twenty inches broad, and 

 thirty inches long, beveled on the lower edge, and 

 notched in the middle, so as to straddle the row. This 

 wooden coverer, when drawn over the row, covers 

 the seed nicely, leaving a slight elevation to prevent 

 the settling of water, and dresses the whole surface 

 of the bed neatly for the space of twenty inches. 

 Thus, all clods and obstructions are crushed or 

 removed, and a clear space is left, wide enough for 

 the scraper in the first working of the young cotton 



