1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



59 



no reason to repent it, for I believe, tiiiil this method 

 has more tlianoiice saved my hie, aliiioui^'li I am no 

 Jaciv M yrtoii to tlirow myselt'imder a horse's lieels, 

 or ride liill tilt over a rabbit warren. 



Late ofSpottsylvania Co., Va. 



From the Southern Recorder. 

 ROT IIV COTTOK^. 



jlftssrs. Edllors — I have read wiih much sntis- 

 ficlion, the very Jenirthy essay of Dr. Robert R. 

 Harden, upon the subject of rot in cotton in yours 

 of the 4th inst. His efforis to prevent this blast- 

 inu and \vitherin<i disease, by submittintj to the 

 public iiis views, together with tiie results of his 

 own experience, are very laudable and praise- 

 worthy. If agricuhure could be consivlered as it 

 really is, a science, and exertions proportioned to 

 its importance were used to extend its limits, great 

 benefits might be secured to the farming: interest. 

 Allhouf;h by lar the largest portion of the capital 

 and industry of the state have been employed lar 

 years in the growing of cotton, yet there are doubt- 

 less many errors in the mode and manner of iis cid- 

 ture, which ma_r, by close investigation, aided by 

 the test of experiment, be entirely exploded, if 

 we will look back upon the time when cotton was 

 carried to market, in the scad, and contrast that pe- 

 riod with the present, we may form some idea of 

 the vast improvement which a i^w years have 

 wrought in its culture — the mode of preparing it 

 for market and more especially of manufacturing 

 it afterwards. And who can say the susceptibility 

 of iis improvement has been used up? Who can 

 prescribe limits to human ingenuily? It is mightier 

 than the ocean! You cannot say to it, ''ihus lar 

 thou shalt go and no fiirther." 



As pleased as I was with Dr. Hardets's commu- 

 nication, I cannot however agree with liim in some 

 of his conclusions. He Ibrms his ofnnions of the 

 disease called rot in the cotton in a physician-like 

 manner, givino; two causes, "predisposing" wnd 

 "exciting." That these two causes operate alike 

 in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, in produ- 

 cing distemper, I have not the least doubt. I can 

 very readily conceive of a person's system being 

 predisposed to bilious fever for instance, but there 

 being no exciting cause the man escapes disease — 

 on the other hand, there being no predisposition 

 whatever to the disease, he may be exposed harm- 

 less to that state of the atmosj)here best calculated 

 to enorender it. Just so with cotton; it may be dis- 

 posed to rot, but escapes entirely if the season be 

 favorable. In the application of these general 

 principles, I agree perfectly with Dr. Harden, but 

 differ with him as to what constitutes the predis- 

 posing and exciting cause of rot in cotton. He 

 says that cotton from seed thrown in large heaps 

 before dried, and sufl'ered to remain until they heat, 

 contracts a predisposition to rot. This is impossi- 

 ble unless we suppose there never existed any 

 "exciting cause" until late years, for eld ibirmers 

 will testify fully to the fiict, that their manner of 

 preserving seed has been invariably the same for 

 the last thirty years, and that the "rot in cotton is 

 of recent origin. 



Again: in this se'etion of country (Troup county) 

 we have plan'ed the Petit Gulf seed for four years, 

 saving them precisely as we did our oilier seed, yet 



those of us who have tried this kind of cotton have 

 liad no rot, while wliole crops of the common kind 

 have been nearly destroyed! I purchased, in the 

 spring of 1835, two hundred bushels of Petit Gulf 

 seed, one hundred Irom a gentleman who had 

 planted the year before but twenty-five acres of 

 this kind of cotton, and the other hundred from ft 

 man who had planted two hundred acrefs of iu 

 My cotton had no rol, while my neighbors who 

 planted the common kind were very much injured. 

 Last year I planted my crop with these seed, and 

 had something like one thousand five hundred 

 busliels left, j invited my neighbors to come and 

 supply themselves v\lijle they lasted — a number did 

 come, but refused to plant the seed, because ihey 

 were injured by being kepi in too large heaps. My 

 cotton did heat because I had picked out nearly the 

 xyhole of my crop befiire I completed my gin-house: 

 of this I informed those of my neio'hbors who came 

 to examine the seed. Still last season I had no rot 

 when it was vile all around me. As to the "exci- 

 ting cause," Dr. Harden is equally at limit, for cot- 

 ton rots in very wet and ver}' drj' years, and mode- 

 rately wet and moderately dry years also; and if 

 Dr. Harden had himself the control of the seasons, 

 he would not, I will venture to assert, know what 

 kind to send to prevent rot, Szc. 



"With the lighla now beliire me," I would say 

 that the disposing cause of rot is in the seed, and 

 will remain there forever, no matter hov/ particular 

 thefarnser may be in sunning and saving them, &c. 

 Cotton is nota native plantof this state — wliere tlie 

 seed came fi'om I do not know. It requires seven 

 months fi'om. the time it is planted to atlain its full 

 maturity, (to wit:) April, May, June. July, Au- 

 ijuet, September, and October. No\v, we always 

 have frost in April and October, and continues in 

 Maj'' and September. So it must, of necessity, 

 have frost or cold vveather upon it two months, 

 and sometimes four, while it is growing. I will 

 not pretend, however, that the frosts in September 

 and October, have any effect in producing rot. It 

 is enough lor my purpose that it has cold xoeather 

 and cold rains to contend with in the spring of the 

 year, when it is younn; and tender. If these things 

 be true, is it not probable, if not morall}' certain, 

 that our cotton cannot produce seed so healthy and 

 sound as it could, if our climate were more conge- 

 nial to its growth? There are many vegetables in 

 our gardens, whose seed we do not pretend to save. 

 And why? Because they are not so good as those 

 from other climates; and yet they grow finely the 

 first year or two. 



If additional reasons are wanted to prove the 

 position I assume, and fortify it beyond the hope 

 of successful attack, a number can be rendered. 

 In the first place, so iav as my knowledge extends 

 we plant ihur difltM-ent kinds of cotton — the com- 

 mon green seed, the Mexican, the Petit Gulf, and 

 the Alvarado. I mention these in the order most 

 used. In all, there is a different appearance. The 

 green seeds are large, and covered with a fibrous 

 substance, resembling in color and appearance, 

 green velvet — hence their name. When first 

 planted by our farmers, they produced sound and 

 healtli}' plants, free of any disease vvhalever. Af- 

 ter some years, however, they began to change 

 their appearance, and a number of black, sleek 

 seed were found amongst them; then, and not 

 until then, did we hear of rot in cotton. The 

 Mexican are large white seed, and when first 



