The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-04-15
David Dickson on Cotton Planting.

lue IOllOWlHS Is COpleu lIOlll IIedGlSc Ou
Agriculture" by David Dickson, Sparta, Ga,
farmer The premium cotton crop, exhibited
at the State Fair in Georgia, in 1869. of eigh-
teen bales on six acres, was cultivated accord
ing to Mr. Dickson's plan:
l. Lay off cotton rows four feet apart with
shovel plow, double furrow, and put in fertil-
izers eight inches deep.
2. Ridge with long scooter, five inches wide.
Make the beds with turn plow, subsoii the
turn plow furrow; split out the midd!es with
shovel. Plant with cotton seed sower, and
cover with board or harrow.
First plowing-run 90 inch sweep with right
wing turned down, hoe out to two or three
stalks to the hill every nine inches, ten days
after blowing. Second plowing-use same
sweep, the right wing turned up little more.
Third plowing-in same way, run third fur
row in middle to level.
8. Cotton standing thick 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 sub
soil; 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 well, and manure literally, you may
expect m from four hundred to one thousand
pounds of lint cotton to the acre.
TO- Fertilizers bring q 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.
12 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 rewarded.
1t pays to use manure, and it pays best on land
that pays best without it.
IA. From the 10th to the goth of April is
the best time to plant cotton.
l5. Apply one-haf 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.
Is. Leave no grass to bunch and cause fu.
ture bad stand.
II. Plow cotton every three weeks and let
the hoes come ten days behind, clearing it per-
fectly.
1S. Continue plowing cotton till the 18th or
10th of August. Once or twice during the
season shove out the middle with furrow, to
keep the land level.
19. The blowing of cotton requires one and
fourth days per acre.
20. Cotton plants commence when small to
take on and mature bols, 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 number
of years in succession, with plenty OF manure.
%. 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.
90. Rotation of crops, deep and deeper plow-
ing every yea., incorporation Of vegetable
mold, returning the proceeds of the cotton
plant, except The lint, to the soil, making as
much manure as possible, comprise my system
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.
&C. The cotton planter should make his
whole supplies, everything necessary to run
the farm.