174 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



gypsum, and which is universally admitted to be a great fer- 

 tilizer of the soil. Now the question is, will this chemical 

 process have the effect of changing those matters in the soil 

 which cause our cotton to turn blue. Experience, of course, 

 will be our surest guide on this subject, but it would be deeply 

 interesting to read the views of some of your learned corres- 

 pondents in relation to it. 



Respectfully, &c., 

 Bryan County, January 1, 1844. AGRICOLA. 



P. S. I have been using, for some time, the plough in the 

 cultivation of the Sea Island cotton, with advantage, and I 

 intend, this year, further to facilitate my work by the side- 

 harrow and the cultivator. Be good enough to say, in your 

 next number, if I can obtain the latter implement in Augusta, 

 whose make, at what cost, and whether they will answer 

 between beds four and a-half feet apart. They ought to be 

 made so as to be moved for a greater or less distance. 



SECTION XL THE DRY ROT IN COTTON 



EDITORS SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR : Permit me, in behalf 

 of myself and neighbors, to make known the existence of a 

 disease in our cotton to a much greater extent than ever be- 

 fore known by us, called the " dry rot," and ask you some 

 questions as to the probable cause. 



The disease we speak of attacks the top bolls. The seed 

 and lint first rot and turn black ; then a sore or scab appears, 

 resembling a puncture with a sharp instrument. This extends 

 quite over the surface of the boll, and very frequently after 

 the disease has taken possession of the whole pod it opens 

 its prongs and presents a thoroughly rotten state in all its 

 parts. So far as the writer's observation extends, it is most 



