COTTON- WOOL. 



427 



as experience has proved that the plants will not flourish Appendix. 



if at all crowded. While thinning the rows, great care 



must be taken to clear them of all grass and weeds : in 



the early age of the cotton this is done with the hoe. In 



a short time after, to facilitate the work, we use ploughs 



between the rows, where every thing must be kept down, 



and not a blade of grass should be suffered to grow. The 



only art in making a good crop of cotton is in the rule, 



not to suffer any thing to grow among the plants until it 



is fully matured. 



The time of planting, or rather sowing our cotton, 

 varies according to the season. Generally, we begin from 

 the ist of April to the 15th; as a rule, I would say as 

 soon as there is no further danger of frost. These general 

 observations, I trust, will be sufBcient; indeed it is 

 impossible to fail in making a cotton crop, provided the 

 ground be kept perfectly clean and the plants be not 

 crowded. The quahty of the cotton depends more, 

 perhaps, upon care and attention in gathering and drying 

 it, than upon the culture of the crop. 



From the 1st of September, or sooner, the bolls begin 

 to mature and open successively, until winter has stopped 

 the vegetation of the plant. As soon as the boll has 

 completely opened, the cotton, which then hangs partly 

 out of its shell, and has become almost dry, must be 

 gathered by hand. Care must be taken by the picker to 

 take hold, with his fingers, of all the different locks of the 

 cotton, so that the whole comes out at once, and without 

 breaking off any of the dry leaves about the boll. If any 

 fall upon the cotton before the gatherer (or picker, as we 

 call the labourer) has secured his handful in the bag 

 which hangs out at his side, it must be carefully taken off. 

 It is necessary to use a close bag to gather the cotton : 

 for the plant, though still flourishing, has on it many 



dead 



