THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



Jan. 



cotton sli""i(l at OT'ce enfer largely upon its cul- 

 ture, r r like all semi-tropical plants in the early 

 stages of lis growth, the plant is exceedingly 

 delica'e, and requires that the soil be put in the 

 best possible condition. It is useless to put in 

 the crop in cloddy ground, or neglect it in the 

 early stages of its growth. In our next we will 

 give directions as to its culture, and an account 

 of its insect enemies at the South, which there 

 endanger the crop, and are more to be feared than 

 the frosts of the North. 



HABIT OF THE PLANT. 



In the early stages of its growth, cotton is an 

 exceedingly delicate plant, and will not bear to 

 be crowded by weeds, choked with unpulverized 

 lumps of soil, or soaked with standing water. 

 We need not be told that, with such habits of the 

 plant, the soil must iirst be made friable; that 

 if the land is cloddy, it must be reduced to fine- 

 ness by thorough pulverization ; nor that the 

 furrows shall be deep, so as to absorb and drain 

 off the falling rain. The farmer who attemps 

 the culture of cotton near the limits of its growth, 

 must be a thorough cultivator, for in the hands 

 of a shiftless farmer the crop will prove a com- 

 plete failure. Corn may be neglected and yet 

 yield, in proportion to the labor 1 estowed upon 

 it, ten, twenty or fifty bushels ; but not so of 

 cotton, the crop must be either a fair one or a 

 failure. The plant is semi-tropical in its nature, 

 and from the time of planting to its final growth, 

 must be pusihed ahead with the utmost vigor, and 

 .under no pretext will it do to neglect it. 



TIME OF PLANTING. 



The cotton plant will sustain a greater degree 

 of frost than corn without being cut to the 

 ground, but after leaving been once cut down by 

 frost, unlike corn, it wijl not recover, and con- 

 sequently must be re-planted. The present sea- 

 eon has demonstrated that planting as late as the 

 14th of June in Christian county, will give one 

 picking of excellent cotton the last of Septem- 

 ber, bnt the bolls for the second picking will not 

 be sufficiently developed to be "pened by the Oc- 

 tober frost ; hence, it is important that the plants 

 get an early start, so as to obtain at least two 

 pickings. 



The cotton plant in its habits of growth is 

 similar to the castor bean. The latter in the 

 South is a tree of a foot in diameter, while at 

 the North it becomes an annual ; but with thi.s 

 great disparity of growth, with a rich soil and 

 thorough culture, it is successfully cultivated at 



the North, and at one time bid fair to be the 

 great leading agricultural etaple of the State. 

 In the tropics the cotton jlant is of two kinds — 

 the tree cotton and the herbaceous, the former 

 producing the largest crops, often six hundred 

 pounds of clean cotton to the acre, while the 

 latter seldom exceeds two hundred. In the tem- 

 perate zone the herbaceous or annual cotton plant 

 improves in both quality or quantity, and some' 

 times rivals that of the tree cotton in yield. In 

 looking over the statistics of the cotton-produ- 

 cing countries, it will te seen that along the 

 northern line of its culture the yield and quality 

 are both the most satisfactory. Indian corn is 

 another example of a wide range of climate, and 

 which at the South can be planted at almost al[ 

 seasot: of the year, but while at the North the 

 planting is confined to a few days, the quantity 

 and quality of the soil is superior. We could 

 name other products, but will be content w'th 

 one more, the imphee of Africa. No where does 

 the castor bean, Indi-'.n corn and the imphee 

 flourish more luxuriantly and produce better re- 

 turns than in Central Illnois. Experience and 

 analogy both prove that well tended cotton will 

 not fail to produce a like result. The cultivation 

 of the castor bean, of Indian co'-n, and of the 

 imphee, well know and appreciate the value and 

 necessity of early planting, so as to push the 

 growth of the plant forward before the dry sea- 

 son, which is so liable to occur duiini August 

 and September. Late planted corn will produce 

 a small show of ears and is valuable for fodder, 

 and, taking the two objects together, is often a 

 paying investment; but with cotten the case is 

 diflferent, the late p" anted will only produce a 

 small return of bolls, while the stalks and leaves, 

 unlike that of corn, are of no value. When we 

 take into consideration that the late planting will 

 require nearly the same amount of labor per 

 acre, with the certainty of a scanty yield, it be- 

 comes at once self evfdent that early planting is 

 the only advisable course to be pursued. In the 

 south part of the State, where cotton has been 

 grown from the time of its first settlement from 

 the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, to the 

 present timo, no particular pains have been ta- 

 ken to produce large yields per acre by early 

 planting, and hance we find that they gene- 

 rally plant in May, about the time of the head- 

 ing out of the winter wheat. We were at Cob- 

 den the 18th of June last, and in the garden of 

 Mr. Ben. Vancil the plants were in the first leaf, 

 and at this time the wheat had been some days 

 in shock. Mr. Y. has spent a long life in that 



