Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-05-20
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DAVID DICKSON ON COTTON PLANTING.

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DAVID DICKSON ON COTTON PLANTING.
The following is copied from "Treatise on
Agriculture" by the late David Dickson, of
Sparta, Georgia, work that should be IN the
hands of every farmer:
l. Lay off cotton rows four feet apart with
shovel plow, double furrow, and put in tertlll-
zers eight inches deep.
2. Ridge with long scooter, five inches
wide. Make the beds with turn plow, SUBJ
soil the turn plow furrow split out the mid
dies with shovel. Plant with cotton seed
sower, and cover with board or harrow
First plowing-run % inch sweep with
right wing turned down, hoe out two or three
stalks to the hill every nine inches, ten days
after plowing. Second plowing-use same
sweep, the right wing turned up little more;
Third plowing-in same way, run a third
furrow in middle to level.
8. Cotton standing in the drill will be
much more forward in maturing
4. Cotton only requires distance one way.
5. Be careful not to cut the roots of cotton.
6. Have deep water furrow in the spring;
work fiat by hot weather.
7. On level land run the rows north and
south.
8. A cotton plant to stand two weeks
drouth, must have four inches soil and six
inches subsoil; three weeks-six inches soil
and same subsoil; four weeks-eight inches
and the same subsoiling.
9. If you prepare your land and carry out
this plan we'll, and manure literally. you
may expect from four hundred to one thous.
and pounds of lint cotton to the acre.
10. Fertilizers bring crop Of bolls on the
cotton early.
II. To improve the cotton plant, select
seed every year after the first picking, up to
the middle of October, taking the best stalks
and the best bolls on the stalks
~. On all farms there are some acres that
produce cotton better than others. Seed
should always be selected from those spots
49, Manure everywhere you plow and
plant. Your labor will be more certainly re-
warded. 1t pays to use manure, and it pays
best on land that pays without it.
H. From the 10th to the 20th Of April is
the best time to plant cotton.
Is. Apply one half of all labor and land
to the making of full supplies of all kinds
that are needed on the farm, and enough to
spare for those engaged in other pursuits, and
you will have more money than if the whole
was employed in making cotton.
16. Leave no grass to bunch and cause
future bad stand.
II. Plow cotton every three weeks, and
let the hoes come ten days behind, clearing it
perfectly.
49, Continue plowing cotton till, the 10th
or 2Oth of August. Once or twice during the
season shove out the middle with furrow, to
keep the land level.
49, The plowing of cotton requires one
and fourth days per acre.
20. Cotton plants commence when small to
take on and mature bolls, and continue until
they exhaust the soluble matter or exhaust
the full capacity of the land. Two stalks
will do that much sooner than one, and will
so avoid the drouth, caterpillar, etc.
81. Cotton will grow after cotton num-
Der of years in succession, with plenty OF ma
nure.
%. Make just the amount of cotton wanted,
at paying prices. Keep out Of debt, be the
creditors, make your supplies at home; then
and only then will you have power.
o. Rotation of crops, deep and deeper
blowing every year, incorporation Of vegeta-
BILE mold, returning the proceeds of the cotton
plant, except the lint, to the soil, making as
much manure as possible, comprise my sys
tenn of improving lands.
"a. One object in cultivation is, to keep
the surface broken, so as to let in light, heat
and air. Never stop the plows for dry weather.
25. My policy has been to make the most
money with the least labor and capital, even
if it appeared to be wasteful.
26. The cotton planter should make his
whole supplies, everything necessary to run
the farm.
The premium cotton crop, exhibited at the
State Fair in Georgia, in 1859, of eig ghteen
bales on six acres, was cultivated according to
Mr.. Dicksons plan. With a capital of $780,
900 to commence with, he made in fifteen
years s5OO,O0O by farming. He has been
equally successful since the war. Pluck and
brains will tell in farming, as in any other
vocation.