SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE, 1790-1860 273 



year, the field was laid off in beds by plowing a furrow between 

 the old rows and lapping on this from four to six other furrows, 

 according to the size of the plow and the desired distance between 

 the rows. The field was thus left in ridges about four feet apart. 

 After the ground had been pulverized by a small harrow, the 

 ridges were split open with a small plow, and the seed was sown 

 into this furrow at the rate of two or more bushels per acre. This 

 was usually done by a negro woman, who carried the seed in her 

 apron and strewed the seed several feet along the furrow at each 

 cast of the hand_. The furrow was closed by means of the harrow 

 or a board which had a concave under surface to fit the crest of 

 the ridge, and was screwed to a small shovel or " scooter" plow. 

 When the cotton had attained a height of several inches, the 

 laborious process of thinning began. This was done by means of 

 a hoe, followed (sometimes preceded) by a plow to again round 

 up the ridge, and to keep the space between the rows free from 

 weeds. With the hoe the grass on the sides of the ridge was 

 cleaned away, and the cotton blocked out in the rows, leaving two 

 plants (eventually only one) in hills twelve or fourteen inches 

 apart. The cotton continued to be cultivated in this way with the 

 hoe and plow or with an implement called a " sweep," at intervals 

 of about twenty days, until nearly picking time, the ground being 

 thus gone over from three to five times. Planting began as early 

 as the end of February in some of the eastern states, and was 

 often not ended until the middle of May in the Southwest. The 

 first blooms usually appeared in May and June, and picking be- 

 gan about the first of August in the East and continued until the 

 middle of December in the West. This was a tedious but not 

 laborious task, and in its accomplishment women and children as 

 well as men were employed. In the early part of the century 

 fifty pounds a day were accounted the average per hand, but by 

 1854 Wailes states that "the children double this; and two 

 hundred pounds is not unfrequently the average of the whole 

 gang of hands, to say nothing of those who pick their four or 

 five hundred pounds of cotton." 



There were few agricultural implements employed in the cultiva- 

 tion of cotton previous to the war, and such as were in use were of 



