88 
CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 
height of three or four inches, and demands immediate 
attention. The planter thinks he has a good stand, but, if 
he be a man of experience, he knows that eternal vigilance 
is the price of cotton as well as of liberty. 
SECTION V. 
TENDING THK CROP — BARRING OFF — SCRAPING CHOPPING OUT — HOEING 
AND DIETING AGAIN AND AGAIN GOOD SEASONS RAPID GROWTH 
THE FIRST BLOSSOM — THE BOLLS ^ESTIMATED NUMBER ON A STALK 
TO MAKE A BALE TO THE ACRE IN THE GRASS AND OUT OP THE 
GRASS. 
The situation of the plant at this stage is simply this : 
it is standing thickly set in the middle of a ridge or bed, 
surrounded by grass and weeds. Two things are neces- 
sary to be done, with as little delay as possible : the grass 
must be removed, and the cotton thinned out : to effect 
these important purposes, we start the hands with turn- 
ing ploughs to barring off. This is done by running 
the bar of the ploughs lightly on each side of the row, 
and as near the cotton as convenient, so as to throw the 
dirt from the plant. Immediately at the heels of the 
plough hands follow the hoes. These do the work of 
thinning. This consists of cutting out the cotton to the 
width of the hoe, or about twelve or fourteen inches, and 
leaving it in bunches of from three to six plants each. 
After the thinning, as "^oon as practicable, say in three or 
four days, the shovel ploughs come along and throw the 
dirt back to the cotton, covering up what young grass may 
have been left by the hoe hands, and affording a support to 
the young plant. This is called dirting or moulding. 
The hoes follow immediately after the dirting, and bring 
the cotton to a stand by chopping out the bunches, left at 
the previous hoeing, to one or two plants. 
