Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-06-18

have by underground draining,
mauuriag and careful and iudiciOus
management, brought Il TO a very
high state Of fertility aud produc.
tiveness.
In making my drains / cut a ditch
two feet wide by three and a half
deep, and filled twelve inches with
briekbats or stones, and threw In
straw and co.nstalks to keep the
earth from falling In amongst them
l then filed up with earth. These
drains | prefer to tiles, having used
both.
In November, 1868, after gather.
ing my corn, l broke up the ground
with . half. shovel plow, six inches
deep, and followed this with atwO.
horse pillow, being a buli-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 a large two
horse, irOn-toothed harrow, which
completely p~ulverized the soil and
left the ground clean and level,
On the first OF April, l plowed
and narrowed again, then laid of
the rows four feet, and put the fer
tilizer in the drill, using q mixture
Of Peruvian guano 200 pounds, plas.
ter 800 pounds, and leached ashes
800 pounds, per acre.
| then threw up beds eight inches,
and boarded of to four inches, and
commenced planting on the 9th of
April, using the Boyd's prolific seed,
procured from Mr.. Beckham, OF
Richland district, s. G. The seed
were planted three feet apart by a
compass in the hill, and covered
with the hoe, the blowing TO be
done only one way.
The cotton came up we'll, aud as
soon as up, l sided closely, then
hOed, then threw back the soil with
a plow, and thinned out to one
stalk in the hill. next ran a half
sweep close to the cotton, two
burrows to the row, afterwards
ran one furrow to the low with
a sweep, breaking out the middles,
and followed with the hoes to kill
the grass. In August, another hoe.
ing wal given TO "lay by" the crop,
cotton then tapping in the rows
The thorough preparation OF the
land before planting prevented the
necessity OF much labor in cultivat-
ing the crop.
From thrsc five % acres were
picked and weighed 1850 pounds.
The manure cost as follows: GuanO
S44; plaster Sl4; ashes 81; stable
manure $50; total So.
In competing for the prize on the
best one acre OF cotton, | 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,
at a cost OF twenty.fi five cents per
load, were broad Casted and plowed
under in March. The land was
thrown up in beds four feet apart,
aud the Boyd prolific seed planted
in hills three feet apart, covered
and cultivated as were the five
acres. This single acre Yielded n
much larger crop chan the average
OF the five acres, the harvest being
1880 pounds Of cotton, with a cost
OF $50 for manures.
Your obedient servant,
(Signed.) j. n. CRAWFORD.
South Carolina, Richland county.
Personally appeared before me,
j. n. Crawford and L. II McCor.
mick, who made oath that the above
statement Is correct.
(Signed) j. N. CRAWFORD,
L. r. MCCORMICK.
Sworn before me, this 10th day
of December, 1869.
(Signed,) EDWARD HoPE,
Magistrate ex.oficio.