The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1874-06-17
JUNE.
HOW TO MAKE A COTTON
---. .... CROP.

As time for cotton planting is
near at hald, I will try and give
your readers some Of my experience
with cotton and it's cultivation.
A thorough preparation of tie
land is essential for a good cotton
crop, and the more thorough the
preparation, the better will be the
results. All lands intended for
cotton should be broken up in Janu-
ary and February in order that all
the old stalks and vegetable mat
ter may have time to decay before
planting time. Should any part Of
your land break up in clods, and re-
main so until the middle of March,
run your sweeps over the land when
it would be little too wet for the
plow, and you Will have nice turn
seed bed. Land broken up early,
causes the grass seed to germinate
near the surface and in bedding you
kill out the earliest grass, and get
the start. The earlier barnyard
manure isl put in the better, either
broadea st orin the drill, only two
furrows should be thrown upon ii,
in order to give fresh bed for seed
by splitting the middles just be-
fore planting.
Cotton rows should be laid off in
proportion to the strength Of the
land: say from two feet nine inches,
to FIVE feet. | believe more cotton
is lost by having rows too wide than
too marrow. Guano same as barn
yard, only it should be put in as
near planting time as possible. -
I've never derived any benefit from
second application after planting.
A good stand is very essential,
without which you need not expect
q good crop. The less seed sown,
[if a stand can be obtained, the
better; for cotton standing thin in
the drill before being chopped out,
is less liable to lice, Will not die
out as much, and will grow off bet
ter. and make more cotton than
when sown thick. No plow shoald
ever be permitted inside Of cot
ton row, after the cotton is planted,
except a sweep. Barring Of cot
ton, I've no doubt, has cost every
farmer who has done it, one-ifth of
his crop annually. In barring off,
the lateral roots are cut, all the
dirt is taken from the young plants,
the winds blow it down, the rains
wash it up, and it is impossible for
the plants to grow, until the tap
roots extend below the furrow cut
by the plow, and then one-6fth is
covered up BY the plow in trying
to dirt it. Ny plan is, to have my
beds as fresh as possible at planting
time, to let my cotton come up be-
fore the grass; start my sweeps
[Dicksonl as soon as my cotton is
up, then side as close Us possible,
not to cover the cotton entirely up.
The consequence is, the first rain
washes the dirt down around tn.
cotton, covering the little sprigs of
grass, if any, and leaving q ridge
about two inches wide for the hoe,
and han6s will chop one-third more
land thus treated, than any other
way I've yet seen, and leave the
cotton standing up, and the lateral
roots undisturbcd.
Always chop TO stand the first
time, no matter who says ''block it
out Aud take pains and get cut
every sprig of grass the first time,
ami be sure and break the crust
and pull it from the cotton. I've
had farmers to ask ne why l was
so ., rticular about having the crust
broken ndpulled of: They thought
the plow would coverup such places.
You can't plow sufficiently close
the first time to cover up such places
without covering the cotton, and
then you countenance hands who
are disposed to slight their work
q bad Sign on the farm. I would
not thank man to block my cot
ton, nor would I give one cent for
any machine to do it. Cotton
choppers and cotton pickers havn't
yet been invented, and never will
be in our day and generation-1
mean successful ones. Sweep close,
chop to stand, get all the grass,
break the crust (f any to kill the
seed that is terminating; keep
your sweeps moving rapidly, going
round every ten or twelve days;
AMI vou need rot have more than
one hoe hand to every fifty acres,
(if You have good plow hands, af-
tor ,-ou~ r0ttnn x choDnnS ont