The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-03-05

ing convention OF the people, we con-
templated no immediate movement.
e
Tho Premium Cotton Field.
We copy, from the Rural Carolinian,
the following statement from Mr.. j. NJ.
Crawford. Of Richland, OF his plan Of
growing cotton. Mr.. G. was the sue
cessfui competitor for the premium at
our late Fair, for the greatest sproduo-
ton of, cotton, on both one and Ave
acres:
To The Erecuiiue Gonsn,iaee Of tie State
Agricultural and Mechanical Society.
GENTLEMEN: As am competitor for
the prize to be awarded for the best five
acres of cotton, I do herein certify that
my five acres of land is an upland basin,
surrounded by gradually rising slope;
that it was wet and comparatively un-
productive when bought it, and that I
have by underground draining, manur-
ing. and careful and judicious manage.
ment, brought it to q very high state of
fertility and productiveness. II making
my drains cut o ditch two feet wide by
three-and-a-haf deep, and filled twelve
inches with brickbats or stones, and
threw in straw and con-stalks to keep the
earth from falling in amongst them;
then filled up with earth. These drains
L prefer to tiles, having tried both.
In November, 1868, after gathering
my. corn, I broke up the ground with q
half-shovel plow. six inches deep, and
followed this with two-horse plow,
being bull-tongue, fifteen inches long,
widened near the point. the better to
pulverize the soil. The lot remained in
this condition until January, when it
was narrowed with n large, two-horse
iron-toothed harrow, which completely
pulyerized the soil, and left the ground
clean and level
On the first of April. I plowed and
narrowed again, then laid off the rows
four feet, and put the fertilizer in the
drill. using mixture of Peruvian
guano zoo pounds, plaster 800 pounds,
and leaehed ashes 500 pounds, per acre.
then threw up beds eight inches, and
boarded off to four inches, and COM
menced planting on the 9th April, using
the Boyd's prolific seed, procured from
MIR. Beckham, of Richland District, S..
@. The seed were planted three feet
apart by compass in the hill, and
covered with the hoe, the blowing to be
done only one way.
The cotton came up we'll, and as soon
as up. sided closely, then hoed, then
threw bnck the soil with plow, and
thlnned out to one stalk in the hill /
next ran half sweep close to the cotton,
Two turrows to the row, afterwards ran
one furrow to the row with O sweep,
breaking out the middles, and followed
with the hoes to kill the grass In Au-
gust, another hooing was given to clay
by" the crop, cotton then tapping in the
rows. The thorough preparation of the
land before planting prevented the ne
cesslty of much labor in cultivating the
crop. From these five acres were picked
and weighed 1850 pounds. The
manure cost as follows: Guano S44;
plaster $14; ashes 81; stable manure $50;
total $S2.
In competing for the prize on the best
one acre OF cotton, 1 certify that the
land IS the same as the five acres, and
cultivated the same way, the only
difference being in the kind of manure
used, and time of putting it on.
Eighty cart loads of stable manure. Mt
cost of twenty-five cents per load, were
broadcnsted and plowed under in March.
The land was thrown up in beds four
feet apart, and the Boyd prolific seed
planted in hills three feet apart, covered
and cultivated rs were the five acres.
This single aero yielded much larger
crop than the average of the five acres,
the harvest being $500 pounds of cotton,
with cost of $50 for manures. Your
obedient servant,
J. Nj. CRAWFORD.
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