FARMERS^ REGISTER. 



63 



ploufrhiiifT ehould be performed in the same man- 

 ner, wiih an increasing pariicularity as the plants 

 increase in size and approach niaiurily, noi lo run 

 deep and near, lest by so doinij; tiie lateral roots, 

 vvliich are thrown out in search of food, sl|ould be 

 injured, and the circulation ol' the sap too mucii 

 checked. Ploughs of various models are used in 

 eflecting the same results, but it is deemed unne- 

 cessary to enter into a description of ihem or a de- 

 scription of their relative adaptation to the objects 

 intended. Every planter in the selection of 

 ploughs will of course be governed by his own ob- 

 servation. 



The cotton crop should be worked at intervals 

 of not more than three weeks from the commence- 

 ment to the termination of its culiivation, and suc- 

 cess depends not less upon the judicious and skil- 

 lid management of the hoe than of the plough. 

 There is however much greater unilbrniity in the 

 method of using tliis implement ; and it imay be 

 remarked, in general, that where the soil is mel- 

 low and in good condition, it is sufficient to remove 

 the grass where the plough cannot reach it and to 

 draw a little fresh earth to the plant with the hoe 

 where the beds are hard ; its province, in addition, 

 is lo loosen the surface. 



With a view to the increase of productiveness, 

 many planters are in the habit of topping their 

 cotton, and there is no doubt that where this ope- 

 ration is performed in time, it produces good re- 

 sults. The plant when its upward growth is 

 checked by this process, yields more of its circula- 

 tion to the support of iis lateral branches and to 

 the nourishment of its fruit. 



The committee deem it almost unnecessary to 

 allude to the great importance of having the cotton 

 gathered as soon after it has opened as is consist- 

 ent with a proper regard to the attention due to 

 other interests on a plantation. Every planter of 

 observation must be convinced of the great loss in 

 weiglit, and in the deterioration in quality, sus- 

 tained by cotton, from long exposure in the fields 

 to the storms and frosts of winter. 



The cotton plant is well known to be subject to 

 a great variety of diseases, some of them appear- 

 ing in the plant and others in the fruit only. Some 

 have supposed that all of these diseases proceed 

 from insects. Many ol" them no donbl do; but 

 experiments have proved the existence of a circu- 

 latory system in the vegetable as well as in the 

 animal creation ; and it is known that, like ani- 

 mals, vegetables extract a fluid from whatever 

 substances are applied to the organs through which 

 they receive and digest their nutriment, that may 

 either tend to promote their health or produce dis- 

 ease. Hence it is obvious that the health of ve- 

 getables like that of animals may become injured 

 by drawing within their circulation deleterious or 

 poisonous qualities, and that the rot and other dis- 

 eases in cotton may be attributed to this cause. 

 This alone, combined with the circumstance that 

 we have not yet been able satisfactorily to trace 

 the causes or provide against niany of the diseases 

 to which cotton is liable, shows the importance of 

 an improved state of agricultural knowledge — 

 knowledge, the advancement of which has no 

 doubt been much retarded by the secluded state in 

 which the cultivators of the soil have generally 

 lived, and the want oi' that patient and continued 

 observation necessary to understand the process of 

 vegetation, and to remark intelligently upon the 



difiif^rent results of the application of different soils 

 and njarmres, and the eflects of other external 

 agents to which ihe plant ma}' be subjected. A 

 state of things which it is hoped that this society, 

 now in i^s infancy, will have sonie agency in re- 

 moving within the limits of its influence. 



The cotton plant under the name of Gossyp- 

 fiiiim has been historically known since the lime 

 of Herodotus, the father of prufane history ; but 

 so recent has been its cultivation in this country 

 that many now living can recollect its introduction 

 among us as an article of commerce. It would 

 be Ibreign to the objects of this report to refer to 

 the important influence which in its processes of 

 cultivation, manufacture and sale, this article is 

 now exercising on the destinies of the human race. 

 But in illustration of the extent of its cultivation 

 and of its value, the committee will briefly refer to 

 the last report of the secretary of the treasury, 

 containing a statement of the annual commerce 

 and navigation of the United States, commencing 

 on the first of October, 1837, and ending on the 

 30th September, 1838. According to this report, 

 the entire exports of the domestic produce ol' the 

 United States amounted lor that year to S96,- 

 033,821. Of this amount the export of raw cot- 

 ton alone amounted to .f 61, 556, 811 and manufac- 

 tures to ^3,758,755, making in all $65,315,556, 

 and leaving less than 831,000,000 for the exports 

 of the domestic produce of the whole union be- 

 sides, including the contributions of the earth, the 

 forest and the sea, agriculture and manufactures. 

 Thus we see that the single article of cotton alone, 

 raised exclusively in a section of country contain- 

 ing less thfiH a third of the population, constitutes 

 in value more than two-thirds of the export of the 

 domestic produce of the United States. 



To ihe support of the pre-eminence, which, 

 under a fortunate combination of circumstances, 

 we have obtained as to the cultivation of cotton, 

 we are mainly to look not only for individual pros- 

 perity, but lor the permanence of our commercial 

 and political importance, and this pre-eminence is 

 to be preserved not so much from our local advan- 

 tages, as from a perseverance in that enterprise, 

 industry and skill which have placed the competi- 

 tion of other regions, not less favored by climate, 

 at a distance, and given to us tlie command of the 

 world. 



THE WEATHER. 



This has been the most severe winter, and the 

 most unfavorable to farming operations, of all 

 within our recollection. In the beginning of win- 

 ter there was an unusual quantity of rain, and 

 since, of snow, but still more unusual excess of 

 ice-bound earth and water, and of severe cold. 

 In our thermometer, in Petersburg, at the outer 

 extremity of a north porch, the mercury was 9 

 degrees below zero, before sunrise, on Jan. 19th. 

 On the 2d, the weather was seemingly as cold, at 

 least, but we did not observe the thermometer un- 

 til 15 minutes before 9 A. M. when it was pre- 

 cisely at zero. Scarcely any farm labors have been 

 performed since Christmas, and all preparations? 

 for the next crops are necessarily very backward. 



