COTTON CULTURE. 61 



3IAKCH. 



The first plowing continued briskly. Corn lands plowed 

 thoroughly, and oats sowed. Have a large kitchen garden, 

 raise plenty of cabbages, sugar beets, carrots, parsnips, 

 onions, okra, and melons. 



A cotton soil and climate are exactly suited to melons, 

 and it will pay to put an acre in watermelons and can- 

 telopes* 



This is a proper time for working plantation roads, filling 

 up the washes, and laying off circle ditches on hill lands. 

 By circle ditching and circle plowing, you can cultivate a 

 soil, that is as mellow as an ash heap, on a side hill, and 

 yet keep it from washing away. 



Observation will teach you what foil a ditch may have, 

 and not wash. It is different in different soils. A fall of 

 an inch in ten feet is the rule that some follow. 



If the season is early and dry, you can plant in the last 

 of March. It is desirable to get your corn planting out of 

 the way before you commence on cotton. 



APEIL. 



A busy month this for the cotton planter. He must 

 make every edge cut, particularly if he has grassy fields. 

 The first of the month will be taken up with cotton plant- 

 ing. You cannot be too thorough or particular in getting 

 in your seed. Aim to have mellow beds, and straight, 

 even rows. Run a fine-toothed harrow over the tops of 

 your beds, and fasten on the cross-piece, so as to project 

 behind the middle of the harrow, a triangular piece of 

 wood, with the edge down, so as to make a clean, even 

 trench for your seed, which should be soaked in a fertiliz- 

 ing mixture a day or two, and rolled, while damp, in ashes 

 :in<i plaster. 



Drop your seeds at intervals of an inch or two in the 

 bottom of the little trench, and cover with a board attached 

 to a light plow, notched so as to fit the curve of the bed. 



