No. 85.] 339 



days system, as they term it — the fields remaining under water for 

 that period of time ; the water being merely let off to freshen it, and 

 put on again at the return of the tide. I beg to refer those who are de- 

 sirous of being acquainted with further details of these methods of 

 cultivating rice, to Mr. Allston's valuable Memoir already noticed, 

 which contains likewise an elaborate description of the mills in use 

 for preparing the grain for market. 



The quantity of rice exported from South Carolina during the last 

 year, was estimated at one hundred and thirty thousand barrels of six 

 hundred pounds each ; and three hundred thousand bushels of pad- 

 dy or rough rice. I transmit herewith a copy of the analysis of rice 

 made by Professor Dr. Charles U. Shephard, at the instance and ex- 

 pense of the Agricultural Society of Winyaw and All Saints in George- 

 town district. South Carolina. The greatest and most important 

 change in the cultivation of this State, took place towards the close 

 of the eighteenth century, by the introduction of cotton. It was 

 first cultivated in 1784, and in 1796, six millions of pounds of clean 

 cotton were exported. Since that period, its cultivation has been 

 rapidly extended, so that the quantity now produced, is little short of 

 sixty millions of pounds. 



The usual method of cultivating cotton in this State is, after due 

 preparation of the land, and manuring it as highly as the means 

 within the reach of the planter will permit, to sow the seed on pretty 

 high ridges, four or five feet apart, dropping it in holes made at a 

 distance of from eight to twenty inches from each other according to 

 the quality of the soil. A liberal quantity of seed is deposited in 

 each hole to provide against the many casualties to which this plant 

 is liable. At the proper season of their growth, the plants are thin- 

 ned out so as to leave only a single one at the regulated distance. 

 In the neighborhood of the sea coast, where the best cotton is produ- 

 ced, the plow is used only to prepare the land to receive the seeds, 

 the remaining culture being performed altogether with the hoe. It is 

 laborious, the practice being to hoe over a field six or seven times in 

 a season,* In other parts of the State, where green seed or short sta- 

 ple cotton is cultivated, the plow is in general use, both for prepar- 

 ing the land, and the culture of the crop. They use for this purpose 

 a triangular share, which from its shape is called a shovel plow. 

 It has always appeared to me, that the plow might be used with 

 advantage below, and a better kind of implement than the one de- 

 scribed, be adopted by the planters in the upper districts. From past 

 experience, I am convinced that the subsoil plow ought to be more 

 generally used throughout the State. The greatest defect, however, 

 in the agriculture of South Carolina, and that which produces the most 

 disastrous consequences, is the continued cultivation of the same 

 description of produce upon the same land. Planters fully under- 

 stand the importance of manuring their lands, and exercise great 

 industry in collecting and spreading it over their fields. They use 

 for the purpose wood leaves and straw, either trodden by cattle, and 



See the admirable Essay of VVhitemarsh B. Seabrookj Esq., on the Origin, Cultivation 

 ».ad Uses of Cotton. 



