COTTOX CULTURE. 31 



the cotton ; that is, let the plows throw the mould up to 

 the row, the hoes to follow thinning the plants to a stand, 

 and leaving everything clean and smooth. The plows keep 

 running till the middles are all broken out. 



After this, from the last of May on, the cultivation is 

 mainly with the plow, sweep or cultivator, the hoes going 

 rapidly over and thinning out if the stand appears too 

 thick. ' 



I have known excellent crops raised where this routine 

 v, MS very much modified. For instance, a planter near a 

 great river may be occupied during April and a part of 

 of May in building a levee to keep the water off his 

 fields. It may be the middle of May before he goes 

 over his crop the first time. In that case he had better 

 cut away to a stand the first time over, and at the same 

 time break out his middles. Where the first cultivation 

 is thus thorough, the subsequent workings may be very 

 rapid, and one hoeing make a good clear crop. But this 

 can only be on old land that has been carefully cultivated 

 for many years, till the weeds and grass are well 

 killed out. As a rule, and in four cases out of five, ten 

 days of the moist, hot weather, characteristic of the spring 

 months in the Cotton States, will make afield look " hairy," 

 and the plows must be hastened into it. 



As the summer solstice approaches, and during the fierce 

 heat of July and the early part of August, care must be 

 taken for the comfort of both the laborer and his mule. 

 The plowman cannot move to the field too early. At the 

 first gleam of dawn, let him lay the plow-line over his neck, 

 and get his animal between the cotton rows. But he 

 should come in early from the midday heat. Unless the 

 crop is suffering, let him knock off at eleven o'clock, and 

 have a nooning of three or four hours, during which the 

 horse or mule may cool off in the shade, and be in a con- 

 dition to eat heartily of dry fodder with some corn. If 

 possible, and with ten mules to a hundred acres, it can be 



