sending out their blossoms are all found on the plant after the cotton begins to ripen.

Both the cultivation of cotton and its conversion into the finished product have been largely cheapened during recent years by the invention of machinery. It has also been lately discovered that the seed contains valuable oils, and that the residue of the seed, after the oils have been pressed out or extracted, is valuable as stock foods (called cotton

cake, cotton-seed meal, etc.). The cotton-seed meal is also largely used as a fertilizer.

2.

Ground that is not too rolling should be plowed early in the season; it should be well disked, or cultivated, and pulverized just before it is seeded.

The labor required in cultivating the crop will be reduced, and the yield of cotton will be increased, by putting the soil into good condition before the seed is planted.

The methods of preparing the soil and planting the seed will depend to some extent upon the character of the soil and its slope. Land that is rolling, and that washes badly, requires a special preparation that can only be learned through experience. Land that is flat, and upon which water might stand for a time after a rain has fallen, is generally "listed" after the seed bed has been prepared, and before the cotton is planted. This listing consists in making small ridges in which the seeds are planted.

Some soils must be fertilized before they will produce the largest yield. For this purpose, wellrotted stable manure is probably the best, but prepared fertilizers are extensively sold. When stable manure is used, it may be spread upon the soil and

plowed under, or it may be spread after the land has been plowed. If prepared fertilizer is used, it may be distributed in rows, either before the cotton is planted, or along with the seed as they are deposited.

The following is the most economic method. Use a two-horse seeder that is provided with boxes for grain and with a box or boxes for fertilizer. All these should so open into the shoes that the seed and fertilizer, if fertilizer is used, are deposited and covered together or near each other. If the land is to be listed, a lister may be attached in front of each shoe. In this way, two rows are listed, fertilized, and planted at each "through"; and thus the largest amount of work is done in the best manner, at least expense. In seeding rough or very rolling land, more laborious and hence more expensive methods must be employed than that above described.

Much rainfall after cotton is planted, and before it comes through the ground, will cause a crust to form over the surface of the seed bed, through which the tender sprouts cannot force their way. Cultivating the surface of the soil with a light spring-toothed harrow or horse rake will break the crust and enable the sprouts to come through.

The regular cultivation of the plants should

begin as soon as they are through the ground. While the plants are small the middles may be kept mellow and free from weeds by the use of harrows and cultivators with narrow shovels. Wider shovels may be substituted for the narrow as the season advances. Many successful planters use the narrow shovel, however, during the entire period of cultivation, with satisfactory results. The cultivation should be thorough, and the soil should be kept mellow and free from weeds.

It is much easier to remove plants when they stand too thick in the row than to supply plants that may be missing. For this reason the seeds are usually drilled close together, and when the plants are a few inches high they are thinned until they stand one in a place, and from eight to twelve inches apart in the row. Formerly the surplus plants were cut out with a hoe and the process was called "chopping" the cotton. In many localities this work is now done with machines drawn by horses.

When the cotton is ripe it is picked from the pods and put into sacks. It is then carted to the cotton gin, where the seeds are separated from the cotton fiber. The fiber is then pressed into large bundles called bales. Each bale weighs about five hundred pounds.

The bales are sent to mills,

where the cotton is spun into threads and woven into cloth.

Coarse muslins, tentings, etc., are made from the coarser grades. Fine muslins, calicoes, etc., are made from the finer grades. Sea-island thread, fine laces, and fabrics are made from the very fine quality of cotton which is grown on the low sandy islands along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and which grows to some extent on a part of the mainland of these states.