The Bolivar County Democrat. (Rosedale, Miss.) 1887-1969, 1906-10-13
THE LITTLE COTTON SEED.
Its Possibility in the
Southern States.
WRITTEN FOR THE COTTON SEED.
BY J. A. EDDINS, JR., OF ROSE
DALE MISS

WRITTEN FOR THE OoTToN SEED.
BY ]. A. EDD1Ns, JR., OF ROSE
DALE, MISS.
Nowhere in the world, on ac-
count of climatic condition does
the little cotton seed, when p lanted,
spring forth from Mother Eearth,
grow and produ ce profit to the
planters, as it does in the South
ern States; and in fact, this is the
only part of the world where
it will grow or yield proftably; all
of the other parts of the world have
tried to grow it, but have failed to
pay. England has spent millions
of dollars trying to grow or pro-
duce it proftably, and has just
about given it up as failure, and
the English spinners are now iu-
vading these states, trying to buy
these lands; for the consumption
of cotton has become so great that
they are being forced to do this,
in order to be insured Of a supply.
In South America the plant does
not die from one season to another,
but continues to grow into tree
like form, and bears such little fruit.
that it Is impossible to gather; and
in Egypt, in the valley of the Nile,
the richest country on the globe, it
will only yield or produce about
four or Eve hundred pounds of seed
cotton per acre, on account OF the
climatic conditions there. Still the
productions of cotton in the South
Iern States is yet in its infancy.
The planters in these states have
now been planting cotton for the
past seventy-five or eighty years,
and it is surprising to know that
there is not one in thousand of
them who knows anything about
the nature of the plant he produ-
ces. They have been simply plant
ing it, cultivating it in certain
way, and gathering the fruit, with
out a knowledge of its nature, or
its possibilities when properly fer
tilized and cultivated. These
conditions continue to exist, be-
cause cotton has produced profit
to them even under the present un-
scientific conditions of planting.
The planter should first study and
know the nature of the plant, and
what fertilizing properties, proper
tions and quantities are required
to grow it most proftably. He
should then have his land analysed,
to know what properties are in
sufficient, and these properties
should be distributed broadcast,
the land we'll broken about ten
Inches in depth, and then thorough
/ ly cultivated and prepared before
| it is planted; as the feeders or roots
to the plant grow out about efght
feet in every direction, the land
should be we'll broken, and the
distance of each plant should be at
least eight or ten feet apart to al
low these very small, tender feed
ers or roots to grow out their full
distance to feed the plant, and thus
support all of the foliage put on.
The plant would then put on as
MANY feeders or roots as it would
foliage, preventing the shedding of
folige, as it does from extreme
changes of the weather. The cul-
tivation should then be very light
or shallow, just sufficient to kill
the foreign vegetation, for the
! ground will be interviewer with
| these little feeders, which should
not be disturbed.
The writer has seen the poorest
land in these states produce three
bales of cotton per acre when fer
tizized with cotton-seed meal, phos-
phate and German KANT, and the
production may be even greater
than this. lam satisfied that if the
nature of the growth of this little
cotton seed was properly under
stood by the planters and it was
planted, properly fertilized, and
cultivated in a scientific way. it
would be only few years before
every acre planted would be pro-
ducing from two and one-half to
three bales of cotton. This would
Weld him an ernormus profit, and
increase the valuation of the lands
from fifty to two hundred dollars
per acre; for the agricultural world
has found or discovered nothing to
equal 1.-THE cotton plant. 1t pro-
duces both food and raiment for the
human races of the world, which
makes it the greatest money pro-
ducer of all the agricultural pro-
ducts, and moves the whole COM
mercial world into activity, and, as
Henry w. Grady has said: The
world awaits in attendance upon
its growth. 1t is gold from the in
stant it puts forth its tiny shoot.
Its fibre is current in every bank;
and he could have added that some
day it would furnish both food and
raiment for the entire world, fol
it has just been discovered by the
chemist that, by proper refining,
the seed, after the oil has been ex-
tracted. will produce one of the