COTTON. 



up to the first of May, you must give ! 

 from three to four inches of covering 

 to preserve the moisture, or there, 

 too, you fail from an opposite cause, 

 the wind and burning influence of i 

 the sun drying the soil too much for i 

 vegetation. In most countries, after 

 sowing the seed the roller is applied; 

 but in cotton planting, in our ridge 

 husbandry, the foot, in covering the 

 seed and pressing down the earth, 

 well supplies its place. 



" Quantity of Seed per Acre. — A 

 bushel of seed is generally sown to the 

 acre ; I believe half a bushel is bet- 

 ter ; for where the evil comes, wheth- 

 er the worm, or wind, or drought, or 

 wet, there is no security in the many ; 

 but, on the contrary, where they 

 come up thin, they soon grow out of 

 the way of injury from any enemy. 



" After Culture. — The cultivation 

 of Sea-Island cotton is carried on by 

 the hand hoe, and the quantity al- 

 ways limited to four acres to the la- 

 bourer. The operation of weeding 

 commences as soon as we finish 

 planting, because, in our flat and 

 sandy soils, the grass seed springs 

 with the first growth of the cotton, 

 and by the time we finish planting, 

 say the first of .May, what we phuit- 

 ed in March requires the hoe. The 

 land is kept in the operation of hoe- 

 ing and weeding, as far as may be, 

 at Its original level, the beds neither 

 increased nor diminished, that rains, 

 which generally fall with beating 

 power and in redundant quantity in 

 the month of August, may as little 

 as possible injure the growing plants, 

 which are then in full bearing. The 

 young cotton is thinned out slowly 

 at from six to twelve inches apart on 

 the ridge by the 10th of .lune. As 

 soon as the rains commence, which 

 is about the last of July, it is wise to 

 leave nature to herself, and no longer 

 disturb the soil ; four hoeings, if well 

 done, and the grass well picked at 

 each hoeing, is enough, nor does any 

 after-growth of grass do injury. 



" Manures and Soiling Stock. — For 

 ten years past great efforts have been 

 made by the Sea-I.'iiand planters in 

 manuring. Much of the alluvion of 



our salt rivers has been collected, 

 and sometimes placed directly in 

 heaps through the fields at rest, at 

 other times placed in cattle pens, on 

 which cotton seed and all waste ma- 

 terials are strewn, and the cattle 

 pounded upon it. But what is pre- 

 ferred is to pen our cattle near the 

 river at night, and cut salt grass, 

 which covers these alluvion lands, 

 and which is as nutritious as so much 

 clover. Many planters now employ 

 labourers to cut the grass for horses 

 and cattle from the first of May till 

 the last of November ; the task re- 

 quired is generally a cord of grass to 

 the hand, and this quantity will an- 

 swer for ten horses, or fifteen head 

 of cattle, for the night. Benefit has 

 resulted from this course in the ratio 

 of the extent to which it has been 

 persevered in. The last year, Mr. 

 Ruffin discovered that all South Car- 

 olina was underlayed by shell marl, 

 at various depths : from my own ob- 

 servation, and inquiries from others, 

 I find the same thing exists in Geor- 

 gia. Great benefits will result from 

 this, I have no doubt, hereafter, de- 

 pending much upon the discretion 

 tiiat is used in the quantity applied, 

 which had better be too little, I think, 

 than too much. 



" Amount of Crop per Acre, and 

 Picking. — It has been stated already 

 that five hundred pounds to the acre 

 are about the medium crop, which, at 

 twenty cents per pound (more than 

 the actual price for the last three 

 years), is to the planter SlOO for gross 

 crop ; and from this hundred dollars 

 is to be subtracted bagging, freight, 

 expenses of sale, clothing for his peo- 

 ple, medical attention, and too otten 

 provisions. Is this man to be envied ! 



'•In picking the Sea-Island cotton 

 from the field, the same disproportion 

 exists with his interior brethren as 

 i in the other operations on the crop. 

 From the exposure to sea-wind, and 

 i the necessity of guarding against ev- 

 ery possible injury to the staple, the 

 \ fields have to be picked over every 

 two weeks, commencing in August 

 and ending in Di^cember ; so that 

 i few planters receive from their peo- 



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