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F A R ai E R S ' REGISTER 



CULTIVATION OP COTTOIV. 



From the Carolina Planter. 



Report on the cultivation of cotton, read before the 

 Pee Dee Agricultural Society, at its semi-annual 

 meeting in October, 1839, by the Hon. John Camp- 

 bell. 



The first cbjer.l of consideralion in (he cultiva- 

 tion ol" cotton, is the selection of a soil suited lo its 

 production. Rut as every variety of soil wiihiii 

 the limits of liie Pee Dee country, of sufficient fer- 

 tility, is found, under a judicious system of cultiva- 

 tion, to yield a good return for the labor bestowed 

 upon it, and as a committee has been appointed 

 hy this society to report particularly upon ma- 

 nures, it is thought unnecessary In make any com- 

 ment upon (his branch of the subject : except to 

 remark, that from an exhausted soil, or one natu- 

 rally poor, and unimproved by art, it is in vain 

 for the planter even with the most favorable sea- 

 sons, to expect an abundant harvest. 



The fields being selected and the proper season 

 having arrived, the first operation is to prepare it 

 for planting. 



In properly preparing land for planting short 

 staple cotton, good ploughing is indispensable, and 

 among the rules which may be laid down as ad- 

 tnitting of no modification are these : Every part 

 of the soil should be turned and efi'ectually pul- 

 verized ; and the depth of furrow on ail lands 

 should be regulated by the stratum which divides 

 the fertile from the unfertile n;oulds. Therefore, in 

 the breaking up or preparing of land, the plough 

 may go as deep as the soil will admit, but not 

 deeper, and from ihe violation of this rule, which 

 nature has provided as a criterion, thiii soils are 

 sometimes much injured. 



Light and dry moulds that are easily pulverized 

 may be ploughed immediately before planting. 

 But on clayey soils, where the extremes of wet 

 and dry present the disagreeable alternatives of 

 mire or clods, the best season of ploughins is often 

 short and critical, and such soils should, when 

 practicable, be ploughed early in the winter, tliat 

 they may by the action of the fi-ost be rendered 

 friable and more easy of cultivation. 



The usual and best method of planting cotton is 

 on ridges, the centres of which vary in distances 

 from three and a half to seven feet, in proportion 

 as the soil is more or less li^rtile. The ridges being 

 widest u[)on the more fertile soils, wliere, fi-om the 

 larger size, to which this plant attains, it requires 

 the greater distance to admit the influence of the 

 sun and the circulation of the air. Upon all soils 

 the observance of this rule is important, but par- 

 ticularly upon such as are backward in bringing 

 cotton to maturity. The ridges are formed ac- 

 coiding to circumstances either by the plough 

 alone, drawn by one or more horses, or by the 

 plough and hoe. 



The land being thus prepared, the object is to 

 plant. 



Cotton being produced in all the southern and 

 south-western states, over the territory embracing 

 a considerable v.iriety of climate, is planted at dif- 

 ferent times li-om the middle of JMarch to the first 

 of Ivlay. As a universal rule, however, it may be 

 remarked, thai the planter should select the ear- 

 liest period that is consistent with saiety. Confi- 

 dent that, lot human systems vary as they may, 



the approach of the season which wakes up the 

 vegetable creation from the sleep of winter, and 

 by its genial influence gives it life and beauty, is 

 regulated by a steady hand — and grateful when 

 he commits his seed to the earth, that if he dis- 

 charged his duty in preparing his land for their 

 reception, his labor will not be in vain. In the re- 

 gion embraced by the Pee Dee Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, the best lime for planting is during the month 

 of April, commencing about the second week and 

 completing the operation as soon afterwards as 

 practicable. It rarely, indeed it almost never, oc- 

 curs, where lands have been well prepared, that 

 there is a failure in the stand. 



The seed are planted either in drills, in checks, 

 or in chops. But the most usual and convenient 

 method when seed are abundant, is to sow in drills 

 run on the tops of the ridges and to cover lightly 

 with a plough constructed for the purpose. If the 

 weather is moist and warm the plant will appear 

 in a few days ; if the contrary, the seed will re- 

 main for weeks without vegetating. The stand 

 of cotton is sometimes injured by heavy floods of 

 rain falling shortly alter planting, succeeded by 

 drought, forming a crust on the (Irill which the 

 vegetating and seed are unable to penetrate. 

 Light soils are not subject to this evil, and on stiff 

 lands it may in a great measure be avoided by 

 sowing the seed and leaving them exposed until 

 after a rain, when they should be rapidly covered 

 while the earth is friable. The moisture absorbed 

 at such a time will occasion the seed to vegetate 

 before another rain has fallen and another crust 

 has formed. 



Alier the plants are up, commences a most im- 

 portant part of the cultivation ; and here the com- 

 mittee will remark, that practical results on the 

 culture of cotton are varied so much by circum- 

 stances, that it is impossible to lay down rules 

 which will be of universal application. But de- 

 pending almost entirely upon experience and ob- 

 servation, and very little upon theoretic reasoning, 

 every judicious planter will be regulated in the 

 management of this crop by the condition of his 

 field. The first process, however, after the cotton 

 is up, is generally, in common language, "to chop 

 out." 



This operation is performed by drawing the hoe 

 rapidly across the drill at short intervals, leaving 

 between each chop three or four plants. The 

 plough immediately follows, running as near the 

 drill as practicable without covering or otherwise in- 

 juring the plants. The hoe succeeds, removing 

 the grass which by this time begins to appear, re- 

 ducing the plants if of sufficient size and vigor, to 

 a single stalk a place, and drawing around them a 

 little mellow earth. The plants will now stand 

 in the drill from ten to twelve inches apart, and if 

 this hoeing is well done the principal diflicuiiy in 

 the cultivation of the crop will already have been 

 surmounted. Ifjon 'he contrar}', it is negligently 

 performed (as is too frequently the case) the 

 planter, if fully cropped, may expect much vexa- 

 tion in its subsequent cultivation. 



The first ploughing is generally performed with 

 two furrows to the row, leaving a narrow ridge of 

 not more than six or eight inches to be worked by 

 the hoe. In the second ploughing the intervals 

 between the ridges should be effectually ploughed 

 out, and the fresh earth thrown lightly around the 

 lower part of the cotton stalks. Every subsequent 



