1837] 



FARMERS' R E (; I S T E R 



4& 



a kind of cold quick-sand. Cotton can be produced 

 on such lands; but extensive draininji' is absolutely 

 nocessarv lor tl\es(>. Alter llic soil lias been cmi- 

 sid(M-ed, i-eivard should be nexi had lo the manures 

 which are applied to it. 



II. JMaki'iiks. Tiiose manures wliich fi-ed 

 the plant, I term nutritive manures; while those 

 which enable the plant to digest its ibod, I call 

 stiniulants. 



I consider all putrescent animal and verretahle 

 matter nitiritives, while the mineral substances 

 are classed auion^ the stiviidants. 



Bearinjr these' distinctions in mind, it must be 

 determined, whether, the soil lo be cultivated 

 needs the one manure or the other. 



If it produces plants which irrow rank and vig- 

 orous, neither veo-etable nor animal matter will be 

 safe to apply. In such cases, stimulants might be 

 applied with great success. 



Salt-mud, salt-marsh, and even common salt, 

 have been all applied by our sea-island planters, 

 as the best stimulants. I do not know that lime 

 JiHs ever been applied. Salt-mud answers best 

 where the land is sandy or light, but it answers 

 also well upon land which is not too low. It is 

 the practice with most planters to get out their mud 

 in hand-barrows, durino; the summer months, and 

 leaving it in heaps, to be carried out upon the land 

 when convenient. This is called ai)plying the mud 

 in its "dried state.'''' I object, however, to this mode; 

 because, I think that the mud, by being heaped up 

 to dr}^, loses most of its saline qualities, by the rains 

 falling upon it, &c. When the mud is taken im- 

 mediately Iroin the creek or pond, and placed upon 

 the soil, it is called applyino; it in its '■'■green state.'''' 

 It is then soli, and can in this state be spread out 

 easily with a hoe, in the alleys. Aiier being thus 

 spread out, it should be left a day or two to dry. 

 The water will evaporate ti'om the mud, and leave 

 the salt, and ven:etable matter of the mud behind. 

 A cart-load of mud to each task-row, is the amount 

 usually applied; but double, or treble the amount 

 might be used, with great success. The mud 

 should be placed under the first listing. 



Salt-marsh [grass.] This manure I decidedly 

 prefer lor damp land. It may also be gathered in 

 the summer, and put up in heaps, for use in the 

 following spring. Where the planter alternates 

 his fields, the marsh may be spread out in the al- 

 leys of the vacant fiehl, and immediately listed in. 

 This mode is decidedly preti^rable ; because, put- 

 ting in the marsh at so early a period, gives it 

 abundant time to rot, by the ensuing spring. 

 But where the same field is planted for any num- 

 ber of consecutive years, the marsh must be put 

 up in heaps to rot during the summer; for the field 

 is then occupied with the cotton. With a o-ood 

 scythe, it may be fairly estimated, that one fi^llow 

 will do six times as much at cutting marsh, as in 

 digging mud: and when it is considered that six 

 cart-loads of marsh will manure a task better than 

 twenty-one loads of mud, the balance is greatly in 

 favor of the marsh. Rushes do almost as well as 

 the marsh, where the land does not require salt. 

 But they may not be considered under the head of 

 stimulants ; while marsh acts both as a stivntlant 

 and a nutritive. Some planters object to marsh, 

 and say that it produces "blue"''' in cotton ; but no 

 one need apprehend this, if the marsh has been 

 put into the land so as to give it sufficient time to 

 rot, before the cotton-plant reaches it. 



A word about preparing marsh. Most pliuiters 

 pile it up in small stacks, lor the purpose of tasking 

 their negroes while cutting it. This is attended 

 with the Iblluwing evils. It permits the sun to act 

 so povverliiUy upon it, as to dry it comf)letely ; the 

 rains then wash the salt away; and when the 

 marsh is taken out it is not at all rotted. To ob- 

 viate these evils, the marsh should, if possible, be 

 all heaped up in one pile. The pile should be 

 made square: and the more the marsh is trampled 

 down the sooner it will rot, and the less apt will il 

 be to throw away its saline properties. Experience 

 has taught me, that three cart-loads of marsh, trea- 

 ted in this manner, will go as far as six treated af- 

 ter the common mode. 



Salt. As regards the profierties and application 

 of this stimulant, I refer O. P. Q. to the valuable 

 article from your pen, Mr. Editor, contained in the 

 January number of your journal.* 



ISI. Tillage. Under this head I shall consi- 

 der, in order, listintj the land, bedding, planting, 

 hoeing, thinning, &c. 



If possible, cotton-land should always be listed 

 in the fall. By doing so, at this season of the year, 

 the grass generally becomes killed by the severe 

 fi-osis of winter, and the soil becomes thereby im- 

 proved. 11^ however, the land is much infested 

 with grass, it is decidedly best to leave it for work- 

 ing as late in the season as possible, because then, 

 the grass has less time to overtake the cotton. In 

 all cases, I preiisr putting the manure under the list, 

 because the plants then receive nutriment, when 

 they most need it, viz: when they have aitained 

 some height. 



From listing, I next proceed to bedding, which 

 requires more attention than planters are generally 

 in the habit of paying it. The size and iormation 

 of cotton beds are of great importance. In forming 

 a cotton-bed, the base of the bed should be made 

 so broad as to leave the alley as narrow as possi- 

 ble. The more narrow the alley, the better will 

 the water lead off after a rain. The beds on high 

 land need not be made high, but rather broad and 

 fiat; and I am not altoirellier convinced, but that 

 the same shape would suit best lor low lands also. 

 The reason gejierally assigned lor making flat beds 

 is, that they are not so apt to be \vashed away by 

 rains; and, in hoeing them, the beds are not cut 

 down too much. 



Planting. — Hitherto, planters have been anx- 

 ious to have their seed in the ground by the 25th 

 of March, and fi'om thence to the middle of April. 

 For myself, I prefer early planting. Though after 

 the cotton has come up, it may be put back by cold, 

 it will be, nevertheless, more forward than cotton 

 which has come up later; and though it should be 

 entirely killed, it is better, in my opinion, to run the 

 risk of planting ov^er, and having early cotton, than, 

 by planting late, to have the pods destro3^ed by an 

 autunm frost. 



The best plan is, to plant the entire cotton-crop 

 before the corn-crop is put into the ground. Next, 

 aller the cotton-crop has been put in, the corn should 

 be immediately planted, and alter the corn has been 

 planted, the first cotton should be hoed, whether 

 there is grass or not. This forms the first hoeing. 

 Mr. Tovvnsend, of Wadmalaw Island, has intro- 

 duced a skimmer-plough, for hoeing the bed at 

 this, and, subsequent stages of the growth of cot- 



* See Far. Reg. p. 677, vol, 4. 



