608 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[Na8 



extend the culture, except as, and wlien afterwards 

 it became, an article of very profitable sale and spe- 

 culation. In our appeal on this subject (p. 497, 

 vol. vi,) designed to show that the great merit of 

 pubhc service in this respect, was justly due to 

 Gideon B. Smith, and not in the slightest degree 

 where assumed, (and in the latter case we af- 

 firm that there was no more claim for the first im- 

 portation from Europe than lor the after dissemi- 

 nation,) we should have passed over all consider- 

 ation of the importation from abroad, as immate- 

 rial to the argument, but for the merit of the im- 

 portation, as well as the after and gratuitous dis- 

 tribution, being assumed by a person having 

 no ground whatever on which to found such 

 broad pretensions. But let the honor due be 

 awarded to all who have any just claim, either to 

 discovering, or making known the utility of the 

 plant, and spreading its propagation with disin- 

 terested and philanthropic views, as well as to those 

 whOjthough merely as intelligent and curious obser- 

 vers, were induced to select and introduce the plants 

 from remote countries. Among the latter, without 

 abstracting any thing from the credit justly due 

 and heretofore awarded to Perrottet, there is am- 

 ple room for the intelligent and zealous Poivre, 

 and also for Fonviile, should the claims for his 

 importation be established. 



ON COTTOIV LICE, AND THE MEANS OF RES- 

 TRAINING THEIR RAVAGES. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Greene county, Ala., July 16, 1S39. 

 I see you state in the Register that you are of 

 .opinion, that limed laud will grow the morus multi- 

 caulis more luxuriantly than the unlimed. You 

 are correct ; on my sluice (called here slue,) and 

 hammock lands, which is very black, and contain- 

 ing about 55 per centum of lime, the native mul- 

 berry here abounds, and its leaves are larger by a 

 third than on the unlimed land; and in the spring 

 when they start, they grow with a rapidity un- 

 known to rae belbre. 



We have again this spring been visited by the 

 lice in our cotton, though the spring being early, 

 dry and hot, but little injury has been sustained, 

 and at this time our crops are very promising. Va- 

 rious opinions are entertained and expressed of 

 this insect, and the method to be pursued to avoid 

 its ravages. To me it is obvious that if they be not 

 the ant, the two at least live in a stale of har- 

 mony together, and are always seen together. 1 

 believe them to be the ant arrived at the medium 

 between the crawling and flying ant, brought up 

 from the earth and deposited on the underside of 

 the cotton leaf by the crawling ant, the juice of 

 which the suck; ihey there undergo a kind o! 

 moulting, come out winged about the size of a 

 gnat, the wmgs jiiiting back like the locust, and 

 they then fly olf. To prevent their ravaires, va- 

 rious renieciies are proposed; the principal opinion 

 in this neighborhood is late planting— but from 



land should be bedded in January and February, 

 and ploughed deep with a turning |)lough; where- 

 by a great many of these insects will be turned 

 out of I heir winter quarters and destroyed. Se- 

 cond. The planting should be regulated by the 

 spring, if open and warm, and a prospect of con- 

 tinuance, plant early, viz. 25ih to 3Uth of March; 

 but il the spring be wei and cool, or simply cool, 

 wait until this subsides, even if to the 10th or 20th 

 of May, fjr if the cotton comes up in this kind of 

 weather, it will not grow ofl, and the ravages of 

 ihe insect which are peculiarly severe in every 

 cool spell, will destroy the croj) before it can grow 

 off. Third. When planting, open the beds with 

 a common shovel plough ot" ordinary length, sow 

 down the cotton seed in it, and in three days begin to 

 cover the seed by throwing on two furrows with the 

 same kind of plough; as soon as the seed begins 

 to sprout and come up, harrow or board off. By 

 this mode of planting, there is more or less destruc- 

 tion of these insecis at planting, covering and 

 boarding ofl', the cotton comes up on a clean bed, 

 and will grow olF speedily il' the weather be 

 warm. 



We who live in the prairies, feel a great want 

 of knowledge in preserving onrtiulter during sum- 

 mer for winter use; lor generally we are without 

 milk or butter. Our milk cows usually wean the'ir 

 calves in the fall, and calve again in the spring. 

 Such information in the Register, would no doubt 

 be highly useful. I saw a receipt for sailing but- 

 ter 3 or 4 years ago in the Chrisiiau Advocate and 

 Journal, published in New York. The receipt 

 directed rock salt ground, luaf sugar and nitre, 

 hut the proportions and (juanlity used to the butter 

 I have forgotten, the paper being unfortunately 

 destroyed. Will you be so good as to procure it, 

 and insert it in the Register"? 



T. DE Graffenreid. 



The particular paper referred to above is not at 

 our command; but it is probable that the receipt 

 contained was no belter, and resting on less 

 authority, than any of the different directions for 

 preserving butter which have been published in 

 various parts of the volumes of the Farmers' Re- 

 gister, and which may be readily found by our cor- 

 respondent. But, if we understand his expres- 

 sions correctly — that on his rich calcareous soils, 

 (which of course ought to be good grass-growing 

 land,) thej'' are generally without milk and butter 

 through the winter — there must be other deficien- 

 cies in dairy management much greater than mere- 

 ly not preserving the summer butter for winter use. 

 The latter is indeed highly important, and especally 

 for sale at remote markets; but with the great ad- 

 vantages offered, in soil and climate, to a cultivator 

 on the Alabama prairies, he ought to be well sup- 

 plied with both milk and fresh butter through the 

 short winter of that lertile region. 



ANTI-SEPTIC EFFECTS OF LIME WATER. 



From the Farmers' Caliinet. 

 The Mechanics' Majrazine hnving just arrived 



?!iis, as a general rule, I differ. I believe our cotton I from England, I extract" from it the (ollowino- fetter 



