GOSSYPIUM. 



"In a preceding part of this article, the pro- 

 bable mean results for these last 15 years, in 

 growing sea island cotton, has been taken at 

 90, or about 2(M. sterling to the labourer; 

 and taking, as we have already done in this 

 letter, the medium crop of short staple at 125 

 pounds to the English acre, and 8 acres of this 

 cotton, as cultivated by the plough, it will give 

 1000 pounds of short staple cotton wool to each 

 labourer employed upon it, which for the last 

 7 years may have given to the grower a mean 

 return of 10 cents to the pound, or 100 dollars 

 for the year's work. There are exceptions, 

 unquestionably, to these estimates ; a few men 

 have received much higher prices for their sea 

 island cotton, and a few men have raised much 

 larger quantities of both descriptions of cotton 

 to the acre than are given, but exceptions can 

 never serve as a guide, in conclusions, as to 

 either the wealth or productiveness of a whole 

 country." 



Mr. Groom, of Middle Florida, thinks Mr. 

 Spaulding has made the limits within which 

 the sea island cotton may be cultivated too 

 narrow. He states that " it has been raised in 

 Middle Florida since its first settlement about 

 the year 1822 ; and the crops made here have 

 been annually sold in the Charleston market, 

 at prices a little exceeding, generally, those of 

 the ' Mains and Santees,' though not quite 

 equalling good ' sea islands.' Moreover, it is 

 produced from the coast to the distance of 30 

 miles inland, but, at the same time, it is not 

 denied that the presence of sea air is beneficial 

 to this crop. If I have not been misinformed, 

 this cotton is also produced by the planters on 

 the St. John's, in East Florida, and was for- 

 merly produced in the Bahamas, until the 

 ravages of the caterpillar compelled its aban- 

 donment. I think it may be doubted whether 

 Mr. Spaulding is correct in the opinion that 

 this cotton becomes less fine when carried 

 south of the St. Mary's. It is probably a native 

 of a tropical climate, and, therefore, most pro- 

 bably would not be less fine when produced in 

 the West Indies. I have heard that some of 

 this cotton produced at Cape Sable has com- 

 manded 50 cents per pound in the Charleston 

 market, without unusual care in its growth 

 and preparation. 



" In limiting the range of the short staple cot- 

 tons to 200 miles of the sea-coast, Mr. Spaul- 

 ding appears to have overlooked North Ala- 

 bama and West Tennessee. In receding from 

 the sea-coast, however, two causes are con- 

 stantly operating against the growth of cotton ; 

 a higher latitude and a greater elevation, both 

 tending to produce a colder climate. To these 

 causes may probably be added a third, the loss 

 of sea air. Other things being equal, the cot- 

 ton planter, therefore, should prefer the neigh- 

 bourhood of the sea-coast." 



To Mr. Spaulding's highly interesting ac- 

 count of the cotton culture we shall add some 

 further details of a miscellaneous character. 

 The quantity of seed sown is usually from 

 1 to 2 bushels per acre. This is scattered in 

 the rows drawn upon the cotton beds, and 

 very lightly covered. It sprouts and comes 

 up in a very few days. If injured from too 

 early planting, it seldom recovers from the 

 556 



GOSSYPIUM. 



effects, and matures late. When worms or lice 

 attack the young plants, it is advisable to stop 

 thinning the plants, and replant as quickly as 

 possible. The crop is a precarious one. In 

 favourable seasons more cotton is sometimes 

 raised than can be picked, whilst in others 

 there is such a falling off in the product as to 

 leave many hands unemployed, or but par- 

 tially so. Much wet weather occurring in the 

 spring may lead to serious injury of the young 

 plants, and in the latter part of the season the 

 same kind of weather may cause the bowls to 

 shed or fall off too soon, and thus spoil the 

 cotton. The kind called Petit-Gulf, now so 

 highly prized by planters in Mississippi and 

 some other states, is not only of finer quality, 

 but more productive and easily gathered, a 

 hand picking 20 Ibs. per day more than of the 

 ordinary upland kind. But it sheds its bowls 

 much sooner, and does not admit of picking 

 more than half the usual time of the common 

 green seed species, which last is often gathered 

 during 4 months of the year. Hence the plant- 

 ers in some places put in only a part of the crop 

 of Petit-Gulf, reserving another portion of the 

 common kind for later gathering. 



The distance between the rows is usually 

 regulated by the strength of the soil and capa- 

 city for producing vigorous plants. It has 

 been recommended as a good rule to place the 

 rows on land capable of producing from 10 to 

 15. bushels of Indian corn per acre, about 4 feet 

 apart; from 15 to 25 bushels per acre, 5 feet; 

 from 30 to 50 bushels, 6 feet; 50 to 70 bushels, 

 7 and 8 feet. It is important to be in readiness 

 to plant as quickly as possible after frosts have 

 ceased, one week in the first part of the season 

 being considered worth a fortnight in the latter 

 part. As soon as the fourth leaf makes its ap- 

 pearance, the thinning by hand commences, 

 when the plants, if to be cultivated in drills, 

 are allowed to stand two and two, from 9 inches 

 apart in light land, to 2J and even 3 feet where 

 the ground is strong. When the earth is dry, 

 it may be ploughed, and the dirt drawn up to 

 the cotton so as to cover and smother the 

 young grass. When wet, the grass and earth 

 are drawn away from the cotton very gently, 

 after which the ground is ploughed and drawn 

 up again as soon as sufficiently dry to permit. 

 This plan of ploughing and hoeing is followed 

 up until the cotton becomes so large as to be 

 injured by the passage of the plough, after 

 which the earth is chopped over with the hoe 

 until the crop is made, of which a judgment 

 may be formed by its beginning to open freely 

 at the bottom. Ten hands are considered 

 enough to cultivate 100 acres of cotton with 

 ease ; but if a good crop, it would require at 

 least 20 hands to pick it out. 



The advantages derived from substituting 

 the plough to the hoe, so generally used in the 

 low lands of the old cotton states, are strikingly 

 exhibited in the following communication from 

 a Georgia planter to the editor of the Fanner's 

 Register. We shall only give extracts from the 

 article, which may be found in the Gih vol. p. 

 269. 



"An emigrant from your own state, and the 

 vicinity of your citv, formerly engaged in the 

 culture of the long-staple cotton on the main 



