72 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



of course destroys the vitality of the young plant. The plant 

 is subject to this influence where a remunerative quantity of 

 good manure, either compost, guano, or chemicals of any kind, 

 has heen used in the hill, even after having put out the third 

 and fourth leaves. 



Whether philosophically explained or not, the discovery of 

 the fact cost me three years of the closest investigation. The 

 tap root of the cotton plant does not make its way into the 

 soil a perfectly organized root ; the sprout which is the root, 

 leaving the seed at the small end, dips directly downward, 

 where it commences pouring out a semi-fluid substance, which 

 is attracted downward partly by gravitation, and partly, per- 

 haps, by electricity. This substance, like a small streak of 

 smoke, is remarkably fragile, constantly and rapidly descend- 

 ing. It is the mould in which the tap root is formed. Any 

 person who will take the trouble, can ascertain this fact for 

 himself. Thus it is easy to understand how it is, that an un- 

 natural, alkalization of the soil in the immediate vicinity of 

 such condition of vegetable existence, should affect its vitality. 



At the end of the third year, I determined upon a new 

 mode of application entirely, which consisted in spreading 

 all the manure used broadcast. This was done by hauling 

 the manure out on the land and depositing in heap rows, say 

 thirty feet apart, and the heaps thirty feet apart in the rows, 

 with ten bushels of manure in each heap. The cotton-rows 

 being first laid, the manure was spread broadcast, and the 

 land bedded out. On or about the 10th of April, the cotton seeds 

 were planted after a spacer, by which the hills are regulated 

 precisely as desired. The result was a perfect stand, with 

 the cotton healthy, and all of the same age. There is no diffi- 

 culty in understanding the difference here in favor of broad- 

 casting the manure, and in bedding out the rows. It is not 

 deposited, a half-gallon in a place, but is incorporated evenly 



