452 



FARMERS' REGISTER— COTTON— AGRICULTURE, &c. 



are sustained. By it the naked are clothed, the 

 hun^^ry are fed. And why should there be induce- 

 ments held out by law for those who have not land, 

 to prey upon him who has, or to compel him to 

 labor at immense expense to secure to himself his 

 crops, which the law should secure to him.^ A 

 farmer may not wish to raise stock, or oven prefers 

 enclosing them, and yet according to the existing 

 state of things, he is compelled to labor to protect 

 himself against those who have no right in equity 

 to the privilege they now enjoy. w. j. n. 



Nottoway, Nov. 25th, 1833. 



[It is proper to state, that the foregoing communication 

 was received, before the article on tlie same subject in 

 No. 7, had issued from the press, and that neither of the 

 two writers knew that he had an auxiliary so near. We 

 are gratified that this subject has already engaged the 

 attention of several of our correspondents.] 



ANSWER TO QUERIES ON COTTON. 



JVovember I9th, 1833. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Recister. 



Feeling myself largely a debtor for the pleasure 

 and valuable information I have received from 

 reading the Farmers' Register, I will offer a small 

 payment, by answering a few of the queries on the 

 subject of cotton, contained in your last number. 



The best mode of planting cotton with which I 

 am acquainted, is to wet the seed, roll them in old 

 ashes until they are separated, and sow them with 

 the hand on small ridges that have been o])oned 

 with a wooden shank in the beam of a common 

 plough ; then cover them with a coverer drawn on 

 the top of each ridge by a horse. The coverer is 

 made of a block of timber two feet long, sixteen 

 or eighteen inches wide and four inches thick, hol- 

 lowed out on the under part of the front end, to 

 gather the loose earth over the seed, and left tlat 

 on the after part 'to press down and smooth the 

 earth — and having a hook or staple in front to draw 

 by, and a pair of handles. 



The best time of planting, is from the 15th April, 

 to the 1st of May: — The liest distance, is to have 

 the ridges three feet apart, if on medium land — if 

 richer, give more distance — if poorer, give less — 

 and chop out with a common sized weeding hoe. 

 The best kind of soil, is that commonly called 

 good corn and wheat land— neither stiff nor very 

 light. The method of cultivation that I prefer, and 

 have successfully practised, is so soon as the cotton 

 is well up, to run a small five-toolh cultivator, 

 drawn by a single horse, as near the cotton plants 

 as possible, going twice in each row. When the 

 earth has selllod about the roots, either from rain 

 or some days standing, then chop out as bef()re 

 directed, leaving some ten or fifteen stalks between 

 each chop, and removing all the grass that can be 

 got at wilh the hoe : in a few days after, thin out 

 to two stalks in each station, carefully pulling out 

 all the grass that was left by the choppers. The 

 second working I would also give with the culti- 

 vator before the grass gels too strong. The third 

 ploughing with a trowel-hoe plough, having long 

 and narrow mould boards set level with the bottom 

 of the hoe and reaching well behind it, and made 

 to run so near the cotton, as to give it a small and 

 neat ridge. 'J'hc fourth and last plouglsing may be 

 performed with the same j)lough going three times 

 m a row, or a single horse "turning" plough of 

 the bar-share, or dagon order. Little or no hand- 



hoeing is necessary after the chopping, if the plough- 

 ing be well executed. Top the plants from the 

 first to the tenth of August. Many years experi- 

 ence have convinced me that the stalks and hulls 

 of the cotton, though turned under in time to rot, 

 will not keep up the land, and that an occasional 

 manuring is necessary. Well rotted stable ma- 

 ntire, or old ashes, are the best kind of manure. 

 Cow penning on cotton land, generally gives a 

 largo growth of stalk the first year, but little in- 

 crease of cotton. The third, fourth and fifth que- 

 ries of your correspondent, I am unable to answer. 



W. T. C. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE BY THE 

 LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA. 



The legislature of V'irginia, has always been 

 peculiarly averse, to interfering in any way with 

 the great and important subject of agriculture. 

 This aversion may be traced to two grand causes. 

 First — To that fundamental principle, which has 

 always both in the state and federal legisla- 

 tures, guided the Virginia politicians, viz : That 

 government should leave tlie management of the 

 internal concerns of the people entirely to them- 

 selves, and that thus left, their affairs were most 

 prosperous. Secondly — Along with this jealousy 

 against the powers of government, one great rea- 

 son why laws for the encouragement of agricul- 

 ture are " so few and far between," may be traced 

 to the character of the members of our legislature 

 as agriculturists. Our legislative halls for years, 

 have been filled with men, totally unacquainted 

 with agriculture, and consequently, unable to pass 

 laws for its encouragement. Our representatives 

 have been taken, not as was Cincinnatus, from the 

 plough, but from the bar. Not from the corn crib, 

 but from the couilhouse, and thus we have more 

 laws, on the subject of how laws are to be made, 

 than useful enactments, bearing at once on the in- 

 terests of the people : more debates on the reso- 

 lutions of '98, or the resolutions of any other 

 period, more flir-fetched arguments to support legal 

 quibbles, than well applied truths to effect valua- 

 ble results. And here 1 will say, that these 

 characteristics in our legislators, may still be 

 traced to deeper causes, lying at the very root of 

 our internal concerns. The cause and effect act- 

 ing and reacting in one another. Fathers do not 

 make their sons agriculturists, and they do not 

 make themselves such. Their ambition is directed 

 not to pull fodder, and to secure the stafFof life, but, 

 as orators, to gather laurels, by making long winded 

 speeches, and to have their names in the newspa- 

 pers either as A'^uZZ^yiers or i'"/n'o7i me?).: to make 

 a noise in guarding the phantom of liberty with 

 the sword of oratory, while lank poverty comes in 

 like a strong man at their backs. But I will 

 speak farther of the.se two causes. The first cer- 

 tainly orignates in a principle which is sacred, and 

 which should ever guide the counsels of the legis- 

 lator. And honor is due to Old Virginia, for 

 the firm stand she has taken on this subject. Go- 

 vernment should be extremely cautious how it 

 meddles in the internal affairs of the people — and 

 the overwhelming energy and enterprise of a por- 

 tion of our confederacy, has sacrificed too much prin- 

 ciple on this subject. Good present results, should 

 never warrant a sacrifice of principle. For the bad 

 effects of the sacrifice, will ultimately overbalance 



