20 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



seen exposed. These packages should be nearly square, for 

 the greater beauty of the bales, but still more, for the greater 

 convenience with which they may be handled and shipped, 

 saving the necessity for tearing the bags, and giving a better 

 guarantee that they will reach a distant market in good order. 



The crop is now made and ready for market, and as I 

 have gone through with the labor of making, I hope I may 

 be pardoned for manifesting a little interest as to its disposal, 

 and therefore venture to offer a little advice on that subject. 

 Create no liens on this crop, or necessity for selling. Never 

 spend the money which it is to produce, until it is sold. You 

 are then free to choose your own market, and time of selling ; 

 and as cotton is a controlling article, it will generally regulate 

 the value of all property to be purchased, except the redemp- 

 tion of an outstanding promise. 



I might have said something about the topping of cotton, 

 but all I could have done, would have been to put it down as 

 a contingent operation, and doubtful in its effects upon the 

 crop, I might also have descanted largely in the enumeration 

 and description of insects and diseases peculiar to cotton, 

 suggested some remedy, and swelled my essay, by a flourish 

 in the dark, upon topics about which little is known ; but I 

 have felt that it would be most in accordance with my plan, 

 and certainly most with my feelings, to candidly confess my 

 inability, and include these all under the head of Provider! 

 tial contingencies, to which this crop is liable, and against 

 which we may war and contend, but which will, after all, 

 prove an overmatch for the energy, skill, or wisdom of man." 



