COTTOX CULTURE. 177 



speaking, malarious ; chill and fever, to some extent, he 

 cannot remain exempt from, but two or three simple rules, 

 strictly observed, will enable the laborer on swamp land 

 to retain his health in a large proportion of cases. 



First Xo night work. The air of a malarious bottom 

 is healthy enough while the sun falls upon it, but at dusk 

 the poison begins to settle and enters the system through 

 the pores as well as through the lungs. 



Second Flannel next to the skin the year round. It is 

 more important in southern than in northern climates, be- 

 cause the contrast between the temperature of mid-day 

 and midnight is much greater. 



Third At the time of the early frosts and throughout 

 the winter, the laborer should, by the terms of his con- 

 tract, be furnished with a cup of hot coffee early in the 

 morning. Xo other drink is so well suited to counteract 

 the febrile tendencies of that season ; it is far more effec- 

 tual and less mischievous than any alcoholic drink. 



With regard to the summer heat of the more elevated 

 and northerly parts of the Gulf States, Arkansas and Ten- 

 nessee, we find the line of mean summer temparature start- 

 ing from near the centre of the coast of North Carolina, 

 passing nearly westward* through the centre of South 

 Carolina and Georgia ; thence it turns northward through 

 Northern Alabama across Tennessee and the western ex- 

 tremity of Kentucky into Southern Illinois. Thence it 

 bears southward again, through Southern Missouri and 

 Northern Arkansas. 



The Anglo-Saxon has never considered it any particular 

 hardship to till the soil in Missouri, yet its summer heat is 

 as great as that of Middle and Northern Geopgia, and the 

 temperature and health of Southern Illinois will not com- 

 pare favorably with those of Middle Tennessee. A sur- 

 vey of the map connected with this volume will show a 

 broad tract of cotton country lying in Georgia, South 

 Carolina, Northern Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and 

 8* 



