222 



.^lONTHLY JOURNAL i F AGRICULTURE. 



cotton to tlic acre. His success, with the pre- 

 vious adoption of the ridge-husbandry of Tull, 

 iutroducod into Georgia, it is believed, by Hain- 

 ilton Covvpcr and James Spalding, of St. Simon's 

 Island, annulled the doubts of the wavering, and 

 soon rapidly extended tlio culture of this valu- 

 able crop. In one year the revolution was ac- 

 complished, and from that time to the pre.sent, 

 the distance of the plants asunder is regulated 

 by the natural or artificial strength of the land — 

 varying from eight to twenty-four inches, while 

 the ridges, though separated in some of the Par- 

 ishes four feet, and. in particular locations, six 

 feet, are in general five feet apart. These, un- 

 like the old usage, have for many j-ears been 

 made and preserved of an oval form, and large 

 and high ; first, the more efTectuuUy to subdue 

 the grass, and to retard its early germination ; 

 secondly, to prevent the exposure of the lateral 

 roots and fibres during the washing rains of sum- 

 mer ; and thirdly, to keep the field as dry as 

 possible ; no plant probably requiring less mois- 

 ture, particularly at the fiiiit-bearing season, than 

 cotton. Although they increase the fi-iability of 

 the soil, which is a serious objection on very 

 light lands, yet, the advantages just enumerated, 

 the recent practice of leveling the ground, and 

 the results of experiments, showing the decided 

 superiority of large over small ridges, in very 

 wet or dry weather, have constituted the former 

 an almost universal expedient, at least in the 

 lower Parishes. In relation to the early prac- 

 tice of depositing in the holes only three or four 

 seeds, a practice common in Spain in the 12th 

 century, experience has shown the wisdom of 

 using a much larger quantity. Cotton is liable 

 to so many casualties when young, particularly 

 in the vicinity of the ocean, where the annual 

 injui-y from winds is greater than is usually ap- 

 prehended, that, c.Kcept by the growers of the 

 best descriptions of tliat article, from a half bushel 

 to a bushel of seed to the acre is commonly sown. 

 The excitement concerning superfine cottons, 

 and the ambition of the planter to excel his 

 neighbor in price, induce annual selections to be 

 made ; but as this task devolves on the propri- 

 etor, and can be done only in a limited way, a 

 parsimonious use of the seed is the necessary 

 result : hence, less than one quart to tlie acre is 

 occasionally put into the ground. 



The method of cultivation was very various, 

 and without method, until about the year IS02 

 when it assumed a regular form in this State and 

 Georgia. Then the crop was worked four times 

 — the latest hoeing being fi-om the middle to the 

 last of July. The hoeings now are more fre- 

 quent, from five to seven being usually given, 

 and are begim earlier and finished sooner. The 

 point appears to be conceded, that, when the 

 plant puts out fruit freely, which may be ex- 

 pected early in July, out-door labor should cease, 

 especially if the season be wet. 



It has been already remarked, that the plow 

 was practically unknov\-n to the first growers of 

 long-staple cotton. This is still true, although 

 a half century has elapsed. The ridge-systera; 

 the levelness of the ground, requiring therefore 

 numerous drains ; the small quantity of land, 

 from 3 1 to 4 acres, cultivated to the hand,* 

 which, from its lightness, is so easily and so 

 much belter attended with the hoe ; and the 

 impossibifity of gathering the cotton as rapidly 

 as the field may demand, if, with plows, the 



* A larger auaiitity per hand could not perhaps be 

 manured. 



tillage embraced a larger number of acres — 

 all seem to render the aid of this great agricultu- 

 ral implement utterly u.seless in the oiltiire of 

 tlie crop. In the breaking up of the soil, how- 

 ever, and, as an assistant, in forming the ridge, 

 the plow is universally employed, except on the 

 Sea-Islands, where only, by a few planters, is 

 its value, in the latter operation, fully acknow- 

 ledged. 



The task in listing was formerly half an acre ; 

 in ridging, three-eighths of an acre ; and in hoe- 

 ing, half an acre. The present tasks are less, 

 except in hoeing, which is the .same. The beds 

 are still changed as often as the same field is 

 tilled. In Georgia, the attempt to make them 

 so far permanent in low grounds as to continue 

 for six or eight years, has in a few instances 

 been successfully tried.* There is scarcely a 

 doubt, from their depth of mould, and extreme 

 richness in vegetable ingredients, that the ex- 

 periment would succeed in the marsh-lands of 

 South Carolina. The application of this plan to 

 poor soils is forbidden by the necessity of fur- 

 nishing them annually with fertilizing matter, 

 which should be thoroughly incorporated with 

 the earth. 



Encouraged by the anticipated results of ex- 

 perience, if not in every instance by the actual 

 product of their fields, our fathers continued to 

 cultivate the grounds which their sagacity first 

 selected for the new crop. After several years 

 of exhausting tillage, a radical change in their 

 plan of operations, it was apparent, must soon 

 take place. Unaccustomed to imbibe informa- 

 tion from books concerning their vocation, the 

 plain alternative of resorting to virgin soils was 

 adopted. This, with regret and mortification be 

 it said, is still the popular expedient, except 

 where necessity, that kind and blessed encoura- 

 ger of the arts, forces the reluctant to another, 

 and, as experience testifies, for more profitable 

 scheme. The land which could be the most 

 readily prepared, was invariably chosen — the 

 best, requiring a large expenditure of labor, ne- 

 glected. Only recently have the swamps of 

 some of the Parishes, and the inniiense tracts 

 which lie along the line where the salt and fresh 

 waters meet, airested the notice of the cotton 

 grower. These alone are capable of jielding 

 an amount of cotton wool equal to the yearly ex- 

 ports of tl-.e State. Whether the enterprise of 

 the agriculturists is adequate to the task of 

 draining and embanking them, the future will 

 develop. To those who have been engaged in 

 this patriotic work, the encouragement for farther 

 trials, on a more extended scale, is great, if not 

 decisive. 



Notwithstanding the woods every where, and 

 the marshes, furnished an abundant .store of suit- 

 able aliment, still, in his early eflbrts. the indus- 

 try of the grower did not extend beyond the 

 narrow limits of manuring his root potato field, 

 comprehending the one-fourth of an acre to each 

 laborer. There were no instruments to mow the 

 salt grass, rakes for collecting leaves, nor carts es- 

 pecially desi.gned to convey the vegetable oiTal 

 to the cattle-pen. On Edisto Island, where the 

 system of tillage is admitted to be good, and 

 where probably as much enriching matter is dis- 



' " Twenty years ago," says Mr. Spaliling, in a re- 

 cent letter to the writer, "upon purchasing some 

 river-land opposite to Savannah I adopted permanent 

 ridges, plaiUmg a row of coni and a row of cotton, al- 

 ternately : these ridgee had stood nine years, when 

 my e<jn "sold the plantation, giving, as I think, tlie best 

 conon and the best com crops in Chatham county.' 



,'•17-1 \ 



