426 



COTTON- WOOL. 



Appendix. 



STATEMENT 



OF THE BEST METHOD OF CULTIVATING 



NEW ORLEANS COTTON. 



The cultivation of cotton is simple and easily under- 

 stood, so that a few general directions will suffice to 

 describe our manner of preparing a cotton-field, and the 

 care and attention requisite to keep it free from weeds 

 and grass. 



As to the most suitable soil for growing fine cotton, 

 I would prefer that which is rich, light, and dry ; but it 

 is generally thought, that new land does not produce as 

 fine a quality of cotton, as that which has borne one or 

 two crops of grain previously. The situation should be 

 such that there is no danger of an overflovv of water, 

 which would seriously injure the plant. In preparing 

 the ground, we use the plough entirely, and lay off the 

 rows from four to six feet; and where the soil is as rich 

 as the alluvian of the low grounds on the Mississipi, even 

 eight feet is not too much. We open the ridges by run- 

 ning a narrow drill, by plough or otherwise, and sow the 

 seed in it as we would grain, covering it lightly with a 

 harrow. 



The plant on its first appearance, and for some weeks, 

 V is extremely delicate and easily injured by careless work- 

 ing. The rows, at first thickly covered with plants, must 

 in about ten days be thinned out, so as to leave the stalks 

 single, at the distance of eleven inches or a foot from each 

 other : or as some of the plants may be lost or destroyed, 

 we generally leave two or three together ; but in about 

 two weeks more, at furthest, they must be reduced to one, 



as 



