CULTIVATION 37 



the development of short, thick, marketable roots. The 

 ridge is but a convenience for working the crop,* and 

 when we lay it by, there are very slight elevations, in 

 fact, only fresh earth enough to well sustain the crown 

 of the plants, 



"In. cultivation, we deem it important to get a good 

 stand as early as possible ; hence, in a few days after 

 planting, we go over the field and replant all that have 

 failed ; next we hand or hoe- work around the sets, 

 loosening the earth, to set them growing. 



" We will suppose that the plants are well-rooted, grow- 

 ing, and the grass is springing up around and between 

 the sets ; the sooner we work now, the less will be the 

 labor required. 



" With a one-horse plow, the plants are sided off close, 

 and the grass removed with the hand and weeding-hoe ; 

 others prefer flat-weeding the ridges without plowing, 

 scraping down the ridges with the hoe. Sometimes I 

 have saved labor by using the Dixon cotton-sweep, held 

 slanting, so as to shave off the grass into the balk, leav- 

 ing a very narrow strip on the ridge for the hoe. The 

 crop should be cleaned and worked, and the best method 

 of doing it will suggest itself to the farmer on inspecting 

 the land. In two weeks, more or less, the crop will 

 again require working with hoes and plows, and the balks 

 should be thoroughly worked, so as to destroy the grass. 



"At the last working, the vines have giown so much 

 that we turn them into the opposite rows, work thorough- 

 ly every other row with the cotton-plow, and then turn 



* Note, — In regard to " high or low ridges," there is difference of 

 opinion. We think, in soils that are rather moist, and consequently 

 cold, and In soils further North, considerable ridges are best ; as, by this 

 means, both warmth and dryness are, in a great degree, secured, 

 which, in our opinion, are important factors, if not essential to success- 

 ful culture. In the hot sandy soils of Nansemond low ridges might 

 do best. 



