COTTON CULTUEE. 19 



the shrub cotton most known in this country, is the West 

 Indian, and the seed used on a great majority of the plan- 

 tations is the Mexican or Petit Gulf. 



With a beginner in this branch of agriculture, the variety 

 of Mexican seed which he uses is of much less importance 

 than its age and the condition in which he finds it. Seed 

 that has stood through the winter rains in a great pile near 

 the gin house, as was the practice before the war on most 

 plantations, has been heated by fermentation, and its 

 germinating power destroyed. A very large number of 

 planting enterprizes were dampened by irretrievable delay 

 in the springs of 1865 and 1866 from the difficulty of ob- 

 taining good seed. That first planted failed to sprout, 

 was plowed up, and other seed planted in the middle and 

 last of April, and often as late as the middle of May. A 

 month of invaluable time was thus consumed, and to com- 

 plete the mischief, the second planting was frequently no 

 more fortunate than the tfrst. There is nothing in the 

 nature of the plant that should make seed two or more 

 years old worthless, except the increasing probability that 

 in keeping it for this length of time, it has become heated. 



Seed that has been kept a year or two, and well taken 

 care of, will ensure a more vigorous stand of plants as 

 the defective seeds perish in keeping over. 



If the beds or ridges have been thrown up for some 

 time, and the surface baked by heavy rains, the soil should 

 be loosened by running a light harrow on the top of the 

 bed. The harrow should have a handle, so that the laborer 

 can walk behind, and keep it on the top of the ridge. A 

 convenient and cheap arrangement for this purpose is made 

 by bending a hickory pole an inch and a half in diameter, 

 and six feet long, in the form of a big ox-bow, and inserting 

 the ends a little behind the middle of each shaft or branch 

 of the common V-shaped harrow. 



The harrow is followed by some instrument for making 

 a shallow but very straight furrow for the seeds. Some 



