92 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



suit of which experiment proved that I was not mistaken. 

 The great secret of manuring cotton, like wheat, consists in 

 making seed the true object of the cotton planter should be, 

 to make good, full and perfectly-matured cotton seed, as they 

 (the seed), produce the cotton wool. On this interesting sub- 

 ject, we shall have more to say hereafter. Guano is a truly 

 valuable fertilizer for grain and cotton, but to possess and use 

 this valuable agency, we have to pay out a high price in gold, 

 already made from our farms. It is a foreigner, and the cost 

 of using it high. It can be used to great profit. Ten dollars 

 worth of it, or 300 Ibs. per acre, properly applied to land 

 that will produce 500 to 1,000 Ibs. of cotton per acre, will 

 increase the crop from 1,500 to 2,500 Ibs., due allowance 

 being made for the casualties and vicissitudes affecting the 

 cotton plant, as guano is no specific against any of the ills, but 

 the lice and sore shin. Compost manure, prepared and applied 

 as I do, and have herein described, produces the same results. 

 The use of guano, then, becomes a question of policy alto- 

 gether just the same as whether it be the better policy of the 

 cotton planter to purchase his bacon, for his operatives, from 

 the West, or to raise it at home. Both are equally good when 

 gotten into the meat house. 



I have thoroughly tested guano, for the last ten or twelve 

 years, on every variety of crops that we cultivate at the 

 South. Its analysis sustains this position, had we no experi- 

 ence in its use. The best mode of application that I have 

 found for using it is, first, to pulverize it, then add to it gyp- 

 sum (sulphate of lime), in the proportion of one Ib. gyp- 

 sum to two Ibs. of guano. For small grain, 200 Ibs. of 

 such compost, harrowed in with the grain, after thoroughly 

 ploughing the land, produces a good crop. A heavier appli- 

 cation will greatly improve the crop. For corn, 250 to 300 

 Ibs., drilled along in the row, and then two furrows listed 



