GOSSYPIUM. 



GOSSYPIUM. 



lands, conversant with the modes of culture 

 prevalent there, and now engaged in growing 

 the short cotton upon the plans adopted through- 

 out the whole western country, my experience 

 has enabled me to detect some of the errors 

 formerly practised by myself, and my neigh- 

 hours in Carolina. My attention has been 

 called to this subject by the perusal of an arti- 

 cle in one of your late numbers, signed 'An 

 Observer,' giving an account of the crop of E. 

 Frost, Esq., in St. Andrew's parish. Mr. Frost, 

 it appears, planted, according to the low-coun- 

 try system, four acres of cotton to the hand, 

 and each hand made 4,000 pounds seed cotton. 

 This the writer considers an extraordinary 

 production and, for that region of country, so 

 it is. It may safely be predicted that it will not 

 soon be equalled by Mr. Frost, or any of his 

 neighbours. With hands till lately accustomed 

 to the same manner of working, I planted last 

 year 10 acres of cotton and 10 of corn to the 

 hand. I never had a cleaner crop, and though 

 the season was excessively wet, my negroes 

 never performed their tasks with greater ease. 

 The cotton crop, seriously injured by the worm, 

 yielded 800 Ibs. to the acre, and 8,000 Ibs. to 

 the hand. Mr. Frost's land exceeded mine in 

 productiveness, yet my crop doubled his. His 

 is considered so extraordinary, that it is held 

 up as an argument against emigration mine 

 was an ordinary crop, nearly doubled by many 

 of my neighbours. But the question to be 

 solved is, how is the difference in the results 

 obtained ? 



"It is unquestionably true that the soil and 

 climate of the west is better adapted to the 

 growth of cotton, that here a plant of the 

 same size, and on a soil of equal strength, will 

 send forth and retain a greater number of pods, 

 than upon the sea-board. It is equally true 

 that the grass will grow as rapidly and as plen- 

 tifully in the one place as in the other. The 

 difference in the soil and climate has not, how- 

 ever, as much influence as is generally ima- 

 gined by residents on the sea-board. Would 

 they adopt the same management, pursue the 

 same modes of culture, which, somewhat modi- 

 fied, they unquestionably can, there can be no 

 doubt that, though they could not obtain the 

 success of the western planter, yet they would 

 make some approximation toward it." 



With regard to the management by which 

 so large a product was obtained, the judicious 

 use of the plough was considered as the chief 

 agent. By it the beds were prepared for plant- 

 ing, the trenches or drills made, and the seed 

 covered. By it the most part of the grass was 

 destroyed, and the plant furnished with the 

 earth requisite for its support and sustenance. 

 By it the use of the hoe was in a great measure 

 superseded. " It may," says the writer, " inte- 

 rest some of your readers who groan under 

 the pressure of their crops of 8 acres of corn 

 and cotton to the hand, and whose fears are 

 alarmed lest the grass should overrun them, 

 to learn how, by the use of the plough, 20 

 acres to the hand can be planted, and the 

 same crop secured. I will, therefore, give 

 you in detail the arrangement of the crop 

 on our plantation last year. There were, be- 

 sides the regular crop, 75 acres of oats, pota- 



toes, and slips, enough for the use of the planta- 

 tion, and about 15 acres of wheat. The planta- 

 tion worked 30 hands 15 at the plough, the 

 rest with the hoe. In March, 300 acres were 

 planted with com, on land previously well 

 ploughed and checked. In the first week of 

 April, 300 acres of cotton were planted. The 

 land was prepared by throwing together with 

 a turning-plough, in the alleys of old cotton- 

 fields, four furrows. Thus bedded, the drills 

 were opened with a small scutter, or bull- 

 tongue plough, in which the seed was sown ; 

 they were covered by a board fastened on the 

 plough-stock, in the place of the mould. The 

 drilling, planting, and covering occupied four 

 days and a half. There was an excellent stand, 

 and no replanting necessary. The ploughs and 

 hoes then went into the corn-field. These were 

 well ploughed and hoed by the time the cotton, 

 was out of the ground and required work. The 

 cotton was four times ploughed, and as often 

 hoed, and when laid by in July, a hat would 

 have held all the grass that could have been, 

 found. The corn was twice more ploughed, 

 and once hoed. The grass was constantly kept 

 down by the ploughs. The daily task of a hoer 

 was 100 rows of cotton 100 yards long. The 

 first and second hoeings, when the cotton had 

 to be chopped out and reduced to a stand, 

 proved good, though not severe tasks ; the other 

 hoeings were light, and the workers were often 

 out of the field by 12 o'clock. The crop was 

 well worked, and with ease, by low-country 

 hands, who would think it the worst calamity 

 that could befall them to be compelled to re- 

 turn to the place of their nativity. The mules 

 and horses were in as good, if not better, con- 

 dition than when the ploughing commenced." 



Picking. The bowls of cotton mature and 

 open about the last of August and beginning 

 of September, when the picking commences. 

 This is performed by hands, male and female, 

 who are provided with osnaburg bags hung 

 over the neck and shoulders, into which the 

 cotton is placed as fast as picked. These, when 

 filled, are emptied into large osnaburg sheets, 

 placed in convenient spots. These sheets are 

 carried home in the afternoon. The pickers 

 are cautioned to guard as much as possible 

 against a small leaf, which, when dry, often 

 intermixes with the cotton, and never can be 

 got rid of, thus injuring the sale. The general 

 average in what is called a good opening is 

 from 45 to 50 Ibs. per day to each hand. The 

 freshly picked cotton is first dried upon scaf- 

 folds made about 4 feet wide, so as to admit 

 of reaching far enough to turn it over with 

 ease whilst drying. A cotton-house is at hand 

 to receive the cotton in case of rain. After 

 being perfectly dried, the short-staple or upland 

 cotton is ginned and prepared for market. 



There are several kinds of gins used for 

 cleaning the cotton of its abundant seeds, such 

 as the Barrel gin, Eves's gin, and Whitney's gin. 

 The last is that depended upon for ginning the 

 green seed, upland, or short-staple cotton ; the 

 long-staple or sea island has still to be pre- 

 pared for market by hand, involving tedious 

 and expensive operations. Whitney's saw gin, 

 for separatign the seed from upland or short- 

 staple cotton, is a mill worked by oxen or 

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