TT501, 502, 503] COTTONSEED — OIL MANUFACTURE. 245 



manufacture, is grossly disproportionate to the injury, which the withdrawal of 

 the life-essence of cotton-planting would inllict upon the prosperity of the whole. 



501. Cotton-teed in the Mississippi Bottom. — ft is a common practice with 

 planters in the Mississippi bottom, with whom cottonseed is a drug, to haul it 

 into the bayous, where a part of it is eaten by their hogs, the rest is carried off 

 to the Father of Waters, and by him to the Ocean, the great ultimate receptacle 

 of the wasted fertility of the continents, which pours into it from millions of 

 eewors in the great cities. All such is lost to mankind, at least until the bottom 

 of the Ocean shall be upheaved and transformed into cultivated fields. — Were 

 the planters who adhere to the above practice, aware how dear their cottonseed- 

 fed pork costs them, or will have cost their children, and how \nttvr\y posterity 

 at least will rue the loss of what has been sent to the bottom of the Gulf, they 

 would surely prefer that the wagons which now carry the seed to the bayous, 

 should lw garrisoned by a hand or two, to scatter abroad the seed while passing 

 through the field ! For though, of all others, the planter of the Mississippi 

 bottom appears to be most firmly convinced of the inexhaustibility of his soil ; 

 yet, if the present system be continued, even the present generation will hero 

 and there awake to the unpleasant fact, that like all other earthly things, the 

 fertility even of the Mississippi bottom is finite. 



It is said that the soils of the Bottom are so thrifty "anyhow," that an addition- 

 al dressing of cottonseed would cause the cotton to run to weed. But while 

 this might be a tenable objection against using it in the drill or furrow, it 

 eertainly cannot be held against merely scattering it on the surface of the ground 

 (several months previous to planting, if necessary), in the proportion in which 

 it was taken from it. Yet this would fully insure to the soil the ultimate 

 advantages of a restitution of its nutritive elements. 



502. Of late, some of the planters of the Bottom, instead of making the 

 summary disposition of their cottonseed, above alluded to, have preferred selling 

 it to the cottonseed-oil manufactories. While it may be gravely doubted, that 

 the small increase of profits thus accruing to them is in any manner commen- 

 surate with the disadvantage of the undiminished drain on their lands, it is at 

 least so far commendable, as it prevents these valuable materials from being lost 

 to mankind, and affords the upland planters a convenient opportunity of trans- 

 ferring to their lands, a part of the surplus fertility of the Mississippi bottom — 

 an exchange of commodities to which they at least ought not to object, and of 

 which they should avail themselves freely. 



The cotton stalk and leaf are even now pretty generally returned to the soil, 

 inasmuch as their removal would be more troublesome than the inconvenience 

 they cause in tillage. Be it remembered, that each stalk so retained is the 

 equivalent of another prospective stalk ; as each and every seed returned, is 

 representative of another prospective seed ; with its necessary appendage, the lint. 



What is true of cotton, its seed and stalk, holds good also, of course, with 

 reference to other crops. Of all, whatsoever is not otherwise used, ought to be 

 •onscientiously returned to the soil ; thus, both the necessity of rotation, and 

 the exhaustion of the soil generally, may be reduced to their minimum. 



2. 6UB80IUNQ. 



503. This term comprehends two operations essentially different in their 

 aature and effects. In one sense, it means merely the breaking up of the 

 8ubsoil, without necessarily bringing it to the surface to any great extent ; in 

 another, it signifies the turning up, on the surface, of the subsoil itself, or mixing 

 it with the surface soil. It is chiefly in the latter sense that I mean to discuss 

 sub-soiling here, for in the former, it is advisable almost everywhere — objection- 

 able only in a few special cases. For in simply breaking up the harder stratum 

 beneath the soil, we secure some of the advantages of deep plowing, whether 

 the subsoil be poor or rich. Deep plowing, like thorough drainage, tempers the 



