FARMERS' REGISTER 



761 



posure of the furrows to I he atmosphere through 

 the winter, will render the earth more friable at 

 their bottoms, and more pervious to the roots of 

 the cotton. Its benefit will be more or less, as the 

 soil may be light or stiff ; but the lertiliziug quali- 

 ties of the atmosphere will make it of some value 

 even to sandy soils. Further, tlie first deep 

 ploughing in raising the ridges will bury what- 

 ever vegetable matter may lie on the surlace, re- 

 duce it by the spring to some degree of pulrescence 

 and cause it to be convened into Ibod (ur the cut- 

 ton, through the summer. And the second will 

 bury the seeds of grass or weeds so deep, that 

 many of them will liiil to vegetate, and theretiy 

 the labor of cultivation will be diminished, whilst 

 the crop, being less infested with those rivals for 

 subsistence, will be increased. As the cotton 

 plant grows until frost, it is generally made more 

 productive by early planting. The (juickest mode 

 of planting I have tried, is to open the tops of the 

 ridges with a small trowel hoe plough, drawn by 

 two liorses, that one may walk in each furrow, 

 and a straight line may be made to receive the 

 seed. Tins plough has a mould board on each 

 side, to raise and depositeon both sides of iis lur- 

 row earth sufficient to cover the seed. A line is 

 carried fastened to a shaft at each end, across the 

 ridges, having marks of colored stuff at the dis- 

 tances designed lor the plant. The planters Ibllow 

 the line, each taking one row, drop the seed at the 

 marks, and cover ir. with the earth provided on 

 each side by the plough, using the hand which 

 deposites the seed for that purpose. This mode 

 of planting is, however, only calculated lor those 

 districts wherein cotton is culiivated on a small 

 scale, merely lor lamily use. Whenever it is cul- 

 tivated for exportation, a drill plough ought un- 

 doubtedly to be resorted to. I have seen one made 

 so as to deposite Indian corn at such a distance 

 and in such quantity as was required, opening the 

 furrow, placing and covering the corn all atone 

 operation. Such ploughs ought to be used upon 

 the ridges 1 have described, previously bringing 

 tlie cotton seed by the use of ashes and water, or 

 by substituting gypsum for the ashes, and a little 

 rubbing, into a slate of easy separation. I have 

 tried gypsum in the proporuon of a bushel to the 

 same quantity of seed, and v/as satisfied of its be- 

 nefits ; but the experiment was only made two or 

 three times, on account of the unlavorable nature 

 of the climate where I live lor the culture of" cot- 

 ton. If gypsum, as I believe, may be so applied, 

 as gradually to enrich land, then it must ultimately 

 benefit this plant. If its effect in reducing vege- 

 table matter into vegetable food constitutes the 

 mode of its operation, then it is peculiarly adapted 

 to this reductionof the cotton stalks, Vvhcnever the 

 same field is successively cultivated. The soil 

 best ailapted to cotton is peculiarly proper lor the 

 use of the drill plough, as clods or stones consti- 

 tute the only serious obstacle to it. In good land 

 I plant the cotton at the distance of two leei, and 

 thin it to two stalks, so that it stands at four feet 

 by two apart, with two stalks at a place. But the 

 thickness of the plant must be graduated by the 

 quality of the land. Topping and suckering also, 

 in the climate I am used to, increases the crop 

 and improves the staple. The first is speedily 

 performed by a keen small scythe with a proper 

 handle, and should take place when the cotton 

 has disclosed as much bloom, as it may have lime 



to bring to perfection. Useless bloom, which it 

 will continue to throw out if permitted, will impo- 

 verish the crop, and impair the quality of the 

 wool, 'i'he little success which has attended the 

 raising of sheep's wool, in those states adapted 

 to cotton, renders the latter an object of great im- 

 portance. There is no article oi' our agriculture, 

 the raising of food excepted, more worthy of at- 

 tention. 



HAY AKD FODDER. 



Great losses are annually sustained in some 

 parts of the United States in making hay, and in 

 others, in curing corn blades, commonly called 

 fodder. Mine, in a course of many years, have 1 

 think amounted to a moiety of the crops; and 

 most of the expedients I have resorted to for avoid- 

 ing these losses, have been but partially beneficial. 

 Grass loses much both in quantity and substance, 

 by an exposure to the sun in curing if, and fbddec 

 more, being thus exposed in small bundles. Both, 

 iind particularly the last, suffer greatly by dews 

 and rains. Tliis year I have made the most pro- 

 mising experiment lor remedying these evils. A 

 large meadow in bottom land, of a grass called 

 red top or herd's grass, was cut in dry weather, 

 and shocked in large shocks quite green, but dry, 

 that is, not wet with either dew or ruin ; in the 

 following mode. Four slicks of five feet long, of 

 ihe thickness of a man's wrist or more, were set 

 up in a square of two feet wide at bottom, and 

 m'eeting at top in a pyramidal form, where the 

 shock was to stand. One at least of these sticks 

 should be forked at top, to keep them steady 

 whilst the hay is putting round them. A round 

 log, about six feet long and six inches in diameter, 

 was laid upon the ground, with one end reaching 

 to the centre of the two ftiet square, between the 

 sticks, Rnd the other raised upon a fork about eigh- 

 teen inches, (or the purposes of enlarging the flue 

 presently mentioned, lest it should be closed by the 

 pressure of the hay, and that the log may be more 

 easily drawn out, when the shock is finished. 

 Around and over the sticks, the shock was made, 

 its top reaching two or three leet above the top ol" 

 the slicks. The |)urpose of the log was to make 

 a flue for the admission of li-esh air into the centre 

 of the shock, and the expulsion of the air heated 

 by the fermentation of the grass in curing. The 

 flues were made to face the point from which the 

 wind usually blows at the time of hay making. 

 If any flues happened to be closed by the pressure 

 of the grass, they were easily opened by a smaller 

 and pointed log ; or when the largeness of a shock 

 threatened this inconvenience, it was effectually 

 prevented by inserting into the flue a short forked 

 stick as soon as the log was removed, to hold up 

 the hay. As the logs are removed as soon as the 

 shock is finished, two or three are sufficient, for 

 Ibllowing a dozen mowers. The hay thus made, 

 is the best I ever saw, and the efficacy of the mode 

 of curing it was strongly supported, by the grow- 

 ing grass under the shocks having been uninjured, 

 whereas I never left shocks so long in one spot 

 before, without its having been killed by the un- 

 dissipated fermentation of the hay in curing. 

 Corn blades or fodder, sustain an immense lo>s, 

 even in dry weather, by two or three days' expo- 



