THE COfTOK PLANT. 17 



hands were in great demand, and the immediate 

 effect of the invention of the cotton gin was the 

 tightening of the bonds of the slave. Slave labor 

 became all in all to the planters of the South. 

 Northern men were afraid to meddle in the in- 

 terest of humanity when the interests of King 

 Cotton were at stake. It was declared, and came 

 to be believed, that negro labor only was available 

 in those blazing cotton fields, and that only as 

 slaves could negroes be forced to work. Events 

 have abundantly proved, however, that free labor 

 is not injurious to cotton ; white men, as well as 

 negroes, are now employed in its culture, and the 

 crop is larger than ever. 



In the United States census report for 1884, 

 Mississippi stands first among cotton - producing 

 States. Its particularly rich soil yields cotton at 

 the rate of eight-tenths of a bale per capita yearly. 



Both kinds of cotton, the long-stapled and the 

 short-stapled species, are planted in Mississippi. 

 As soon as the frost is out of the ground the cotton 

 stalks of the preceding year are knocked down and 

 cleared away, or sometimes burned and plowed 

 under. The field is then scored in long furrows, 

 four or five feet apart in the best soil, where the 

 plants may be expected to grow large ; three or 



