582 FARMERS' REGISTER— CULTURE OF COTTON,— THE ROT, &c. 



land, to destroy all tlie small grass, and to assist it 

 in coming u\), and then run one furrow between 

 the cotlon rows, with a five-looth harrow. On the 

 stitf, or stumpy and rooty land, I continue to run 

 the one furrow, or two if it requires it, with the 

 same harrow, and follow it with tlie hoe hands, and 

 trim or scraj)e the ridge down nicely, which can 

 be done, in a very short time, and is the main 

 thing to give the cotton an early start, and to keep 

 me ahead of the grass. 



When the cotton is up, and grows to have four 

 leaves, including the two it comes up with, which 

 will be about the middle of May, then is tlie lime 

 for ploughing it again, and thinning. I run twice 

 between the cotton rows with a skimmer, to shuf- 

 fle a little dirt in among the cotton immediately 

 before the thinners, like a grubbing hoe, turned 

 bottom upwards, and a half circle sixteen inches 

 long, three inches wide, and a quarter of an inch 

 thick, with the front edge sharp, to be rivetted on 

 the top of the hoe about three inches from the 

 point. Here the early scraping over the ridges, 

 saves the chopping out the grass, and crippling the 

 tender cotton plant; and the attention paid to sow- 

 ing the seed, enables me to thin all my cotton with 

 the hand, and gives me a good stand of" cotton, 

 (without which, no man can make a full crop,) 

 leaving the stalks on the poor land four inches apart, 

 six on the medium, and ten on the strong — or as 

 near these distances, as is practicable. I thin the 

 first part of the forenoon, and the last i)art of the 

 afternoon, so as to be thinning two-thirds of each 

 day, and the balance of the day, chop over the 

 cotton that has been thinned with the weeding 

 hoes, where the skimmer does not put it in good 

 order, especially on ihe stumpy land. This brings 

 about the 10th of June. I then give a ploughing as 

 early as I can, with a one-horse turning plough, 

 four furrows between each two cotton rows, which 

 will throw the dirt of two furrows on each side of 

 each cotton row, to form a flat bed to each. This 

 will bring about the first of July ; and it will depend 

 entirely on the weather, whether or not it will 

 want more than one more ploughing; and that I 

 do with a five-tooth harrow,- with the teeth worn 

 very short, twice in each plough row, so as merely 

 to stir the top of the earth, to prevent the grass 

 from putting out; and if I am induced to plough 

 it again, I repeat with the same harrow, or skim- 

 mer as above named, but at each time am careful 

 to avoid ploughing down the broad or flat bed, that 

 each row may assist the horizontal trenches in con- 

 veying off the water from that time till the next 

 spring. 



When I cultivated cotton on the straight row 

 plan, I gave my cotton a trowel hoe ploughing, 

 running the same number of furrows, as with the 

 above named turning plough, and at the same sea- 

 son or time of the year, and then finished plough- 

 ing the crop as above named, leaving the land as 

 level as possible, to prevent its washing : but 1 

 found all I could do on the straight row plan, more 

 or less unsuitable on hilly land. I make the hoe 

 hands follow the two last ploughings,and trim and 

 cut all that may be left by the ploughs, particu- 

 . lady at the ends of all the rows, and over the stumpy 

 land. 



The topping of cotton, I find necessary for seve- 

 ral reasons — first, that it forwards the crop — 2ndly, 

 if it is a dry year, it stands the drought better, and 

 makes more cotton ; 3rdly, if it is a good cotton 



year, I make as much cotton, and have fewer bolts 

 to pick out, which is a saving in labor, 'i observe the 

 same rule for tojjping, that tobacco planters do in 

 lopping their tobacco. When the cotton begins to 

 run uj) small, and grow longer from where one 

 limb puts out to the other, than it did in its earlier 

 growtii, it is time to top, and if it is a forward 

 spring, it will be as late to top cotton the 10th of 

 July as it would be, of a late spring, to top the 

 1st of August, and will save the labor of sucker- 

 ing, if the cotton has not suffered a great deal from 

 dry weather; but if it has, wait till the earth gets 

 wet, after the above named stage of the cotton, 

 (which will be a sufficient guard against suckers,) 

 and then top. 



I think it depends a great deal on the weather 

 during the month of July, whether or not I shall 

 have any rot in my cotton. If it is a dry month, 

 or if there should be several rains during the 

 month, and several days sun between the time of 

 each rain, I shall expect little or no rot, but if there 

 should l)e a very warm, wet spell of weather in 

 July, I expect the rot as usual, particularly if 

 there has been a little dry weather immediately 

 before the wet warm spell of weather commences. 

 This warm wet spell of weather, causes no doubt, 

 too much sap in the bolls, and produces the rot. 



I have no fixed opinion of my own, whether or 

 not manure sinks or evaporates, as will be seen 

 from the manner I put in my manure above, but 

 believe it does both, while I believe it sinks most, 

 as it seems to me, to be as reasonable for it to sink, 

 as for the strength of ashes to sink or drip through 

 a ley gum. I should be glad to get more satisfac- 

 tory information on this subject. 



Yours respectfully, Ricun. d. powell. 



Brunswick Co. Va. Feb. 4th, 1834. 



COLD W GATHER IN NEW ORLEAKS. 



From the Norfolk Beacon. 



A commercial friend has politely afforded us the 

 following extract from a letter dated the 4th inst. 

 received by last evening's mail, from his corres- 

 pondent in New Orleans. In the correctness of 

 the information it imparts the most implicit confi- 

 dence may be placed. The writer begins his let- 

 ter by stating, that the weather, (at the time of 

 writing) is the severest ever experienced in that 

 section of the United States. 



While the anticipated injury to the sugar crop 

 is deeply to be lamented, there is much to console 

 them in the reflection that such weather must have 

 a salutary influence on the future health of the 

 country. 



" Last night was exceedingly cold and stormy, 

 and though it would scarcely be believed that a 

 man could freeze to death in this climate, (and 

 perhaps none ever did before,) Jive votaries of 

 Bacchus were caught napping in the street, and 

 hurried to the narrow house in the arms of Jack 

 Frost. The ground is converted from a jelly, a 

 state it has been in ever since my arrival (some 

 weeks,) to a rock ; and the snow is now four inch- 

 es deep. Previously a fire was not necessary in 

 our offices. The change is so sudden that many 

 persuade themselves it never was so cold before, 

 even wider the North Pole. The planters here 

 think it will effectually destroy all the orange 

 trees and cane, and I think they have good groui^ds 

 for their fears." 



