148 COTTON CULTURE. 



and it may be found that more could be realized by rais- 

 ing the plant for its hemp, than by cultivating it exclu- 

 sively for its lint. 



But this use of the plant is to be developed by future 

 industry and experiments. As yet, no planters have en- 

 gaged in its culture for the purpose to such an extent, or 

 with a skill and system that enables us to form any relia- 

 ble opinion as to the practical importance of this discov- 

 ery, for which Mr. Blanc has taken out a patent. The 

 price of cotton-wool must decline considerably below the 

 price it now holds, and is likely to keep for some years, 

 before the attention of cotton growers will be drawn from 

 the boll to the stalk ; unless Mr. B., or some other invent- 

 or, shall discover some way of making the stalk useful 

 after it has ceased to produce bolls, and all the open cotton 

 has been picked. 



If facilities for converting the seed into oil are want- 

 ing, let it be used as manure. In this form, it is worth 

 at least twenty-five cents a bushel, and it is better 

 policy, as a rule, to feed it liberally to the corn, and then 

 feed the corn to the stock. Seventy-five or a hundred 

 bushels, applied to an acre of corn, will about double the 

 yield. If it would give fifteen bushels without the cotton 

 seed, it will yield thirty with this dressing. Nor does its 

 effect cease with the first crop grown by its aid. Corn 

 land, thus fertilized, if planted the next year in cotton, 

 yields a third more, and its effect has been found to last 

 for five years after it was applied. 



In a previous chapter, where the analysis of cotton-wool 

 and cotton seed are given, it appears that the latter is es- 

 pecially rich in potash, in lime, and phosphorus, the three 

 grand elements of fertility. As a special and lasting ma- 

 nure, cotton seed is surpassed only by bone-dust, super- 

 phosphate of lime, and Peruvian guano. 



Finally, as closing this recital of the virtues and uses 

 of the cotton plant, it may be added that Southern phy- 



