The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-04-05
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.
COTTON PLANTING.

dependent upon the sstand" secured
| Again, success often depends upon gett'
ing stand at a particular time. a
difference Of a few days or a week, in
time Of planting, often makes a Won
derful difference of results; especially
is this true in the case Of cotton, and as
this crop will be planted during the
present month, we venture few suG-
gestions as to the time and mode of
planting, for the benefit OF young farm
ers more especially. First-time for
planting cotton. The earlier the better.
| Plant just as soon as the danger Of frost
is over. Our observation is that taking
! the average of seasons, early planted
| cotton fruits better than late planted.
| A certain degree of maturity (Which
age alone can give) is a condition pre-
cedent to fruiting. a stalk must be
formed before the fruit can be. At first
the forces of the plant are all directed
to making weed; afterwards these are
diverted into fruit making channels.
But nature will have its course, and
time must be given for the first to COM
plete its work ere, the tide turns.
Certain peculiarities of our climate
must also be considered in this connec-
ton; drought rarely fails to occur in
July or August. The result is sus-
kSA1SAolA Va NS6SStOAS vi
and fruiting are both arrested. Previ-
Gus to this, the conditions for making
fruit are generally favorable. With an
early start, therefore, good "bottom"
crop is almost certain-much more 80
than either a "middle" or atop" crop.
AS young plants are not so much affect
ed by drought as old ones, a very late
planted crop may sometimes pass un-
checked through drought and make
good late crop, but the chances are
inferior to those OF an early planted one.
MODE OF PLANTING.
Two dangers to be avoided, lack Of
sufficient moisture to make tho seed
gcrminate and formation of crust
which may prevent the young plant
from getting above the surface. April
is often very dry, and unless the seed
are planted Immediately after a shower
they frequently fail to como up well.
The old plan Of opening q furrOw with
plough, sowing seed and listing on
them with two furrOwS and afterwards
knocking off the top Of list with a board,
just as the seed are ready to come up,
is one of the surest methods of securing
a stand i'll dry weather. The objection
to it is the large amount of time and
labor involved. AS formerly practised
it required four hands and three mules
to each row. One to open furrOw, one
to drop the seed and two to cover. Few
can afford to adopt such an expensive
process. The "Cotton Planter' which
opens the furrow, drops the seed and
covers them, makes one hand and one
mule do the work Of four hands and
three mules under the old plan de-
scribed above. But while thus saving
labor, it does not insure against
drought. TO remedy this defect we
made the suggestion in Il former num-
Der, and we repeat it here, to cut off the
top of the bed with drag or smoother
Just in advance Of the s'Planter'' so as
to have a moist, fresh surface in which
to plant. Seed will rarely fail to come
up if thus planted, and the increase of
labor required will be quite small. a
smoother five feet wide will dress off
two beds at a time, and not weighted,
can be drawn by one horse. The
whole labor, therefore, under this plan
would be one hand and half and one
horse and a half to each row.
A suggestion in this connection was
made by Il correspondent last year
which struck us SO favorably that we
beg to repeat it here. 1t is, where tho
top of the bed is not cut off, to place a
board behind the plough hoe, that is
between the plough hoe and the helve,
having the point Of the former project
just enough beyond the board to open
furrow Of desired depth. This ar
rangement not only secures uniformity
and guago Of depth (very important
matters), but frees the top OF the bed
from clods and removes the crust if one
has formed. 1t also throws on each
side the dry top earth and leaves fresh
moist earth with which to cover the
seed.
ROLLING THE SEED.
For reasons discussed above, it IL
highly desirable that cotton should
come up quickly after being planted
otherwise the ground might dry off too
soon for it to appear above the surface
until it rains again. Wetting the seed
and keeping them in moderate bulk
for day and then rolling them, facili-
tatcs greatly their termination. Roll
ing is so easily done with the " barrel
roller" described in former volumes OF
tho Cultivator, that no one need be
deferred from doing it by the labor re-
quired. In addition to making the
seed come up before the ground can dry
off, rolling economiscs the seed and in