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vegetate, and plant grow off I do not like to plant as early 

 as many do I then press forward my ploughing and planting 

 thus : enough ploughs go ahead to ridge up entirely the balance 

 of unbroken earth; harrows follow, openers, droppers, and 

 last coverers. I never wish to sow more than one bushel 

 of seed, and prefer to cover with a board or block so 

 as to cover shallow, to leave ridge smooth, and to compress 

 earth to seed. Upon level land, I require a set of hands to 

 plant ten acres per day, length of rows averaging four hundred 

 and forty yards; a set of hands is one narrower, one opener 

 one to sow seed, and one to cover. Now, esteemed sir, we 

 have planted say one-half the crop. 



If all the land had not been ploughed with three furrows 

 prior to this, I then turn about and prepare the residue of 

 land, and if corn can be pressed forward, I work all or part 

 with the view of having ten days between first and last plant- 

 ing. Then return to planting the residue of cotton. We 

 have now planted the crop. 



Ploughing and Planting. I am very particular in re- 

 quiring rows to be laid off straight, bedded up so ; and far- 

 rows opened for dropping, equally so, because the ploughman 

 in all succeeding labor is able to plough nearer the plant, thus 

 lightening hoe labor. An expert ploughman, with a sharp 

 turning- plough, by letting the share run level with the ridge, 

 handles inclined, of course, can scrape so near the plant, that 

 a hoe hand can scrape and thin out nearly twice as much. 



Many, in breaking up land for cotton, leave unbroken 

 earth ; some call it "cut and cover" that is, cover unbroken 

 earth with a harrow and they insist that the plant bears 

 better than when the land is broken up the plant grows too 

 luxuriantly. This may possibly be the case upon the rich 

 lands where your plantation in Alabama is, but certainly not 

 in our Sfate, and where you live. It is a slovenly culture, 



