22 COTTON CULTURE. 



were covered sometimes by a harrow, and sometimes by a 

 board fastened to the lower part of a light plow. This 

 board should be made of some hard wood, as oak or gum, 

 an inch or an inch and a half thick, about eight inches 

 broad, and thirty inches long, beveled on the lower edge, 

 so as to be sharp, and cut away in a curve, so as to fit the 

 ridge. This wooden scraper and coverer, when drawn over 

 the row, covers the seed nicely, leaves a moderate eleva- 

 tion in the middle, and dresses the whole surface of the bed 

 neatly for the space of a foot or more on each side of the 

 drill. 



Now what we want is an improved cotton planter, having 

 a few harrow teeth in front, which, with one hand and 

 one or two horses, will go over the beds a reliable and 

 even working arrangement for dropping the seed in drills ; 

 and last, the scraper or coverer described above. There 

 is no reason why the whole operation should not be per- 

 formed by one implement. Ten acres can thus be planted 

 in one day by one team ; whereas in the old way it takes 

 a gang of four laborers and three mules to go over the 

 same ground. 



In the northern parts of the cotton region, where cold 

 spring rains often delay the planting till the last of April, 

 or the first of May, it is desirable to roll the seed in a fer- 

 tilizer that will hasten the germination. A compound of 

 two parts of ashes to one of common salt is recommended 

 by Dr. Cloud, a very successful planter in Alabama. Others 

 soak first in salt dissolved in liquid stable manure, and, 

 when damp, roll in plaster. The latter mode is preferable, 

 as the plaster separates the seeds which otherwise tend to 

 mat together, and when the dropping is by hand and care- 

 fully done, the white balls are easily to be seen, and can 

 be laid more readily in the bottom of the seed furrow. 



Cotton needs only a light covering ; not more than peas. 

 An inch is^ enough, and on damp, clayey soils, too much. 

 It will sometimes happen that a heavy rain, followed by 



