A comparatively dry season, with only a few showers now and then, is most favourable for cotton-picking. The wetness of the bushes, from the nightly dews, causes much sickness among the workpeople ; and the cotton picked in a damp state deteriorates greatly in value.
Long-Staple or Sea-Island.—The preparation of the land, and the throwing up of the beds for the plants, very much depend upon the situation of the fields and the nature of the soil. The land may lie low, and be very much impregnated with salt, from the influx of high tides, or it may be swampy from fresh water ; again, it may be very light and sandy, or it may he stiff clay, or a nice warm loam, lying high and dry, above the influence both of tides and freshets. According as these conditions vary, so, to a certain extent, does the practice of the planter. In low-lying lands, very light drainage alone is practicable, hence a clay soil is liable to be cold and trying to the plants, keeping them sickly in appearance and backward in growth. In such cases, it is usual to ridge very high, to plant thinly, and to give the warmest manures available. The spaces between the ridges act as drains to carry off the superfluous water. These ridges are mostly thrown up in the first place by means of ploughs, and are finished off by the hoe ; and throughout the whole culture there is a great deal more hand-labour than on Upland plantations, and infinitely more care is bestowed. On higher and drier lands, lauch heavy ridging is not required, although the system is, to a certain extent, universal on all Sea-Island plantations.
In all operations, horse or mule labour is availed of, as far as possible; but the nature of this cultivation necessitates a constant recurrence to manual labour. The produce is so much more valuable than Upland cotton, that the Sea-Island planter can afford more time, and more expensive labour.
Great numbers of these island plantations have large stores of vegetable manure, brought by intersecting rivers, creeks, &c., besides the quantities of rich saline mud, intermingled with small shells, which they likewise furnish. It is not uncommon to see large tracts of land, which, but a year or two previously, were quite covered by salt water, and which still retain so much saline matter as to be apparent to the eye, covered with the most luxuriant growth of bearing cotton.
There is no difficulty in sowing this description of cotton-seed by means of a drilling-machine, for the seeds are perfectly smooth, and consequently easy of delivery. The sowings being effected, the after-operations of weeding, moulding, and banking, or ridging, are performed. About July or August, the picking commences, and continues generally until November, unless severe frosts occur earlier. If rapidity and care are required in picking the short-staple variety, extreme care and attention are demanded in gathering in the delicate and valuable " Sea-Island." Rapidity of work is by no means so essential as great cleanness, for the aim is to preserve the quality.
When it has been picked, the first object is to get rid of any superfluous moisture it may contain, without drying it too much. It is then picked over, to get rid of all motes, and discoloured par ticles of cotton, which sometimes, from insects boring into the bolls, and from other causes, get mixed up with the mass. This being performed, it is kept in heaps, sometimes 5 ft. high, 4-5 ft. broad, and 20 ft. long, and covered over with cloths. The object of this is to preserve the oiliness, strength, and gloss of the fibre (which a lengthened exposure to the air would destroy) until it is sent to market. But the liability to heat must be attentively watched and guarded against, and whenever it gets too warm, the heaps must be immediately opened out, and the cotton be carefully spread on the clean-swept floor of the cotton-house, to be again replaced in heaps as soon as it has become perfectly cool. If the heaps become hot, in a very short time the oil contained iu the seeds oozes out on the fibre, and imparts to it a dirty-yellow colour, which rapidly changes to a brown, and destroys its commercial value ; but many planters do not object to its becoming very slightly heated, esteeming it an advantage rather than otherwise, inasmuch as they consider that the fibre gradually extracts some of the oil from the seeds, and thereby becomes stronger, softer, and more silky, whilst at the same time it acquires a very delicate shade of yellow, such as experienced buyers admire.