Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1869-04-23
VOL. lY.".","NO. %.
pest Manner Of Keeping and Improving
Cotton Seed,

E0aors Southern Cuuiuator.-I went
into the business of selling cotton seed unwil-
''ngly-but it has paid me very we'll, and will
pay purchasers better, if they will manage
them properly. I will give my Vows as to
the best manner Of keeping them pure and
improving them. There is a belt of land run
nlng through Georgia and other cotton States.
that l consider the home of the cotton plant
possibly the bottoms in the West may be
better adapted to it. The Southern com.
mences in Georgia above Augusta and ends
just above Columbus, embracing the Soutbc,,
granatlc region-mulatto, pine and hickory
lands, and extending about one degree North.
l prefer the Southern part of this belt. The
North end of my farm is included in the
Southern part. | have sold no seed made on
the southern part Of my farm--it being too
sandy to keep the seed up to the desired
standard. Planters living South of this line.
would do we'll to obtain seed from this region
once IN three or four years. If that trade
should spring up, seed could be delivered.
sacked to the nearest depot, at SO to GO cent,
per bushcl. South of this belt, the cotton
plant is inclined to produce mucl, weed and
too little fruit. In it, with proper prcpara.
uon' rotation, manure and rest, you can make
the cotton just what you please, as gentlemen
from all parts of Georgia can testify, who
have seen my crop-making two bales pcr
acre on cotton from 26 to 2S inches high.
10 improve the cotton plant, you should
select seed every year, Immediately after tho
first picking, up to the middle of October, Sc
Letting Gin the case of Dickson secd) from
stalks that send out one or more suckers near
the ground, sometimes called arms. These
forms need not be looked for on poor land
Second, from those that send out limbs thick
with three to six bolls, from a half inch to
one and a half inches apart on the limbs. IF
you do not keep your land VOL charged with
humus, the cotton limbs will bo too short
manure well, pillow docp, cultivate with the
sweep very s~hallow-scrapc with the hoe in
stead of digging or chopping-if you cut the
cotton roots, you make stalks instead of bolls.
On all farms, there are some acres that pro.
duce cotton better than others, Seed for.
planting, should always be selected from these
spots.
l will here answer some Of the thousand
questions asked me by as many hundreds Of
persons-rccciving from one to two hundred
letters per week, l cannot answer any of them.
If they would only take the "Southern Cultil
vator,," they would be in possession of all tho
answers they wish. Messrs. Editors, if you
would use the same amount of energy in ex-
tending the circulation of your magazine as,
you do in getting it up, you, might get from
fifty to one hundred thousand subscribers
The present is q most favorable time to do 40.
Go to work in that directions Many planters
have visited me the last year, and they were
astohished that my cotton, planted the 10th
OF May, was moro forward than theirs, plan.
ted the 10th of April. I often told them in
a joking way, that they arc root c~uttors; they
often confessed they put tho turning pillow to
the cotton tho first blowing, then the shovel
plow tho balance of the season, getting no
bolls until after the cotton Was laid by.
To those who wish to know my distance in
planting, &c, let me say, l do not approve of
hill planting. I would not havc a row nearer
than 4 feet. Use a No 2 Scoyell hoc-dis.
topce between hills the width of the hoc.--
There arc many reasons for this the best ono
is, it makes it moro forward. TO those Who
wish to know my opinion about the ~yarioua
manuIes, l refer them to what I have often
said in the "Southcrn Cultivator." [ will
merely mention that consider ammonia tho
lst-solhble bone the I'd bcst-salt and plas.
ter a good preventive of rust in cotton, besides
possessing other good properties.
Those who wish to hear from mo. must.
take tho "Soutllern Cultivator. The nem
cannot Como, to time with type. and the steam
press. must BIO allowed to work tho, way T
can do the planter the most good (f ANY, I
cannot do it with tho pcn alono. Imust have
tho aid of typo and stoam.
Very truly yours,
DAVID DICKSON.
CURE FOR FoUNpERED HoRsEs-Toke
a lump of alum the size Of a walnut, nowaer
it and dissolve in warm water. Tho horse
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