26 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 1 



these crown roots as thev appear, and although 

 the stalk will continue to (jrow, yet it will produce 

 little or no corn — ti-oni which it would appear that 

 the more perpendicular roo!s sujjplied liie stalk, 

 while the more horii^ontal roots supplied iheear 

 with nourishment. Why miirht not cotton be the 

 same ? — The deep top root mainly nourislies the 

 stalk, while the irreat number ol' more horizontal 

 roots, which come out as the stalk begins to bole, 

 are mainly useful to support the boles. It' this 

 reasoninff were correct, whatever would destroy or 

 break off these roots, would ditniiiish the action, 

 and might check the advances of rot. Hogs, are 

 very fond of rooting about the stalks ol' cotton and 

 eating these roots; with this view, a large stock ol 

 hogs was turned into my field. 1 hardly think one 

 stalk escaped them; they rooted round and des- 

 troyed all these hnrizontal roots ; the stalk only, as 

 it were, being kept up by the main tap root. The 

 effect was astonishing; the rot soon stopped, and 

 I made on this small field, the best crop 1 have 

 ever made belbre or since. I could mention a 

 number ol' facts in proof of this. I state it as a 

 fact, that hogs in sufficient numbers will stop or 

 check the rot. I have heard it suirffp'^ied, and 1 

 am disposed to believe, if a small plough was run 

 deep, very close to the cotron, both v,-a\s, so as to 

 break the roots all around, it would check the 

 rot. 



It would require a total absence of all exciting 

 causes of rot, to be safe, while a predisposition ex- 

 isted ; a hone ol' success v/ill thereliire mainly de- 

 pend upon diminishing or removinir the predispos- 

 ing cause, ftlany persons believe that the rot very 

 much depends upon the condition of the seed, and 

 many attemjjts have been made to prevent it, by 

 giving their attention to the seed. Most of these 

 attempts, accordmg to my viev/s, have Iwen ex- 

 actly such as I would have tried if I wished to in- 

 crease the quantity of rot. Wiien wheat has been 

 cut and remained a considerable time in the field, 

 then perhaps hauled home, slacked, and remained 

 a considerable time in stacks belbre it is thrashed 

 out, tlieii cleaned and well dried in the sun, with 

 all this precaution, if it is then put together in a 

 stout bulk, it will heat or go through a sweat, and 

 spoil. If Indian corn be gathered too early, al- 

 though to all appearance it may be dry and cured, 

 yet put it in a large bulk, and it will heat and spoil. 

 What should we expect of cotton 1 A prevailing 

 opinion is, that the early open, first picking, will 

 make best seed ; this cotton is picked while wet 

 with dew, ofien in damp weather, and thrown to- 

 gether in quantity early in the season, when the 

 weather is warm. Nothing would appear more 

 certain than that these seed wnidd heat and be 

 injured. To prevent this, scafiijlds arc made, and 

 the cotton sunned perhaps a day or less. This is 

 doing less than nothing — it is this much useless 

 trouble. The seed of cotton, surrounded first bv a 

 hard covering, then by the fine lint attached to the 

 seed, then by the cotton, if scattered thin and 

 sunned every day fur a month, they would not be 

 cured sufBciently not to heat when thrown in a 

 large bulk in warm weather. iBut we are gene- 

 rally in so much hurry to get our cotton tu market, 

 that the cotton is ginned up, and this early seed 

 thrown in heaps and saved lor seed ; in this state 

 they are much more liable to heat, than if left 

 without ginning. A bulk of five hundred or a 

 thousand bushels of cotton seed, makes so close a 



heap, that it is air, water and sun proofl It must 

 and will go through a sweat and heat. We could 

 not take a better plan to cause the seed to heat 

 than to take our first picking, sun it a day or so, 

 and then gin it, putting the seed in bulk while the 

 weather is yet warm. iSeed thus managed will 

 often heat so much, that they will not vegetate at 

 all ; but if not so far heated as to be killed, they 

 will produce diseased plants, disposed to rot ; so 

 that 1 say the attempt to improve the seed by sav- 

 ing the most early seed, is exactly calculated to 

 produce rot — not only so, but the cotton that opens 

 iater, when care is taken to pick it only in dry 

 weather, and have it sunned ibr several days, 

 when put in large heaps wdl still go through a. 

 sweat and heat to the injury ol' the seed. Any 

 person who will think for himself on this matter, 

 and take the trouble to examine the tciuperature 

 of large heaps of cotton, as well as seed, with his 

 senses to judge of its heat and moisture, also with 

 a thermometer, will become satisfied that it is im- 

 possible, in the large way, to save early picked 

 cotton seed, without their being injuria by lieat- 

 ing. [I' the heating of cotton seed is the predis- 

 posing cause of rot, and they are so liai/ic to heat, 

 how are we to manage to get clear of lot ? 1 sug- 

 gest this plan, which I believe is the ] Ian which 

 will succeed. Select a part oi' the crop purposely 

 tor seed; let this cotton remain without picking 

 until a killing frost; then when the weather is cool, 

 j;ick the cotton in dry weather, expose it to the sun 

 and air every day until it is ginned, then sun and 

 air these seed several days uniil they are dry; now 

 keep them thinly sp-iead in a large room, opening 

 the doors and windows when the weaiher is lair, 

 frequently stirring them and sunning them until 

 planting time. Seed thus managed, I believe, will 

 j)roduce cotton that will not rot. it may be thought 

 a troublesome and losing plan, but it should be 

 noticed that as we at present plant cotton, it re- 

 quires a great quantity of seed; a considerable part 

 of them are so heated they never vegetate, a slill 

 greater part vegetates, but so soon as they are out 

 of the ground sicken and die; and although great 

 quantities of seed are put in the ground, it is diffi- 

 cult to save a stand of catton. VVith seed which 

 are periectly good, a bushel per acre would be an 

 ample sufficiency ; to save this much seed care- 

 fully, would not be very troublesome. I am not 

 more positive that I live, than I am that this is the 

 true predisposing cause of rot, and that I suggest a 

 plan that will succeed in preventing it. This opin- 

 ion has been formed iiom carelLil observation, and 

 many experiments. 



1 will attempt to give this opinion further proof 

 by analogy. Corn, like cotton, is liable to rot — ' 

 Ibrtunately the causes of rot in corn, are well 

 known, and we can, with certainty, pievent it; 

 but were the cause unknown, we would probably 

 be as much troubled by rot in corn, as we are by 

 rot in cotton. Three things, it is well known, will 

 cause corn to rot; when corn is gathered early, and 

 put in quantity, it will heat and have its color in- 

 jured : this heated corn will vegetate, but the corn 

 it produces will rot very much. Also, corn plough- 

 ed when the ground is very wet rots. Again, corn 

 planted several years on the same ground without 

 changing the crop, will rot. Suppose we were to 

 gather our corn as soon as it was hard, put it in a 

 close crib that it might heat, plant this corn on 

 ground that had been planted several years in 



