24 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



let it be listed as early as it can be done, and two furrows 

 thrown upon the list. Immediately upon planting, let two 

 more furrows be thrown up, and balk broken out completely. 

 The common method of running three furrows, and planting 

 on it, throws the winter's portion of the crop-work upon the 

 laborer, during crop time, and is inexcusable, unless heavy 

 clearings are absolutely required. The reason for not listing 

 after one year's rest, is, that the vegetable matter will be 

 too abundant and too coarse to form a substratum to receive 

 the tap root. 



Cotton should be planted early. It may increase the dif- 

 ficulty of getting a stand, and give the plant, for a long time, 

 a puny appearance, but every stalk of cotton planted in 

 March, or first week in April, that survives, may be readily 

 distinguished, in any field that has been replanted later. It 

 bears more, and earlier, and stands all the vicissitudes of June, 

 July and August better. There are several methods of plant- 

 ing. Your Committee recommends planting in spots, regularly 

 measured by the dibble. It is somewhat tedious, though less 

 so than is generally supposed, and certainly does not take as 

 much time as both to drill and chop out ; nor is time so valu- 

 able at that period, as when the latter operation is required, 

 while a better and more regular stand may be secured. 

 There is no land, or but little, in our district, in which cotton 

 rows should be over three feet apart, or the cotton further 

 than fourteen inches in the drill, one plant in a place. To 

 make a large crop, there must be an abundant supply of 

 stalks. When the weather is too wet to plant, time may be 

 often saved by dropping the seed, but not covering until the 

 ground is dryer. If, however, it cannot be covered in three 

 or four days, it is time lost, for it must be replanted. Always 

 cover lightly, under any circumstances. And always plant 

 on something of a bed, in any land. It keeps cotton dryer, 



