116 COTTON CULTURE. 



val. Here the plowing may be continued through the 

 greater part of July, as frequently as the condition of the 

 crop requires it. 



Now, what returns may be expected from a field thus 

 manured, thus planted, and thus cultivated? Dr. Cloud 

 tells us that in this way he made at least double crops and 

 sometimes treble, that is, he took as much cotton from 

 his five acres as his neighbors from their ten or fifteen 

 acres, cultivated in the old style. 



It will be observed that cotton seed is not recommended 

 as a direct or immediate manure for the cotton plant. It 

 has been found that cotton thrives better on the second 

 year after a liberal application of cotton-seed manure than 

 on the first. It seems that cotton seed is, at the first, too 

 heating as a manure, creating as it does some fermentation 

 in the drill. Afterward, when fermentation is ended, 

 there is a tendency to an undue stimulation of the plant to 

 the production of woody fibre. In other words, the plant 

 that is strongly stimulated by cotton seed, tends to growth 

 rather than productiveness. For this reason, it is found 

 better to reserve that part of cotton seed intended for ma- 

 nures, and apply it as a direct and powerful fertilizer to 

 the corn. In this manner a very fine crop is taken from 

 the field the next year after the corn is harvested, and the 

 force of the cotton seed and of the compost manuring of 

 the previous year, become sensible in the third year in the 

 crop of wheat, barley, oats, millet, peas, or potatoes, which 

 are grown on the second year after the cotton. On the 

 fourth year the land is permitted to rest and " enjoy its 

 Sabbath." 



By this system of rotation the cotton-louse, the rust, 

 the dry rot, and the Boll-worm, are quite sure to be pre- 

 vented, and the only risks which the planter takes in his 

 cotton are the dangers from caterpillar, the Army-worm, 

 or an early frost. By promptness and energy the two 

 former may be successfully contended with, and the more 



