1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



part of the State, and has always grown coton 

 for his family clothiog, nnd as one picking fam- 

 ishes an abundant supply for this purpose, he is 

 content to do his planting after the harry of the 

 spring work. We are thus particular on this 

 point, for it is one of the main points to success, 

 and cannot with safety be overlooked. 



Although cotton has been grown for a long 

 time in the State, yet it has been of garden 

 ra'her than field culture, and we may be safe in 

 saying that the crop noticed in our last article 

 is the first one on anything like an extended 

 scale, and that most unerringly points to the ab- 

 solute necessity of early planting. This garden 

 culture fully accounts for the want of a more 

 intimate goneral knowledge of the best time to 

 plant, and of the amount of the yield. As one 

 picking was sufficient for all the needs of the 

 family, it was not necessary to double the yield, 

 by extra care in preparing the groutd, to run 

 the risk of spring frosts that might add to the 

 labor of re-planting, and would require more la 

 borin weeding out the plants, as it is well known 

 that corn planted in April requires more labor 

 per acre to keep down the weeds than if planted 

 the first of June, though at the saxe time, the 

 oarly planted will return the greatest net pro- 

 ceeds for the outlay, when fodder is not taken 

 into the account. 



In Champaign county, corn planting usually 

 commences the 25th of April, and is continued 

 as late as the 20th of June, though little of the 

 late planted will ripen in ordinary searons. From 

 the 1st to the 20th of May is the favorite time 

 of planting, and it is seldom begun or continued 

 later than that, by only those who have large 

 fields to put in, or are delayed by heavy rains. 

 We would, therefore, recommend the same time 

 as the best for the planting of the cotton, and 

 for all points south a corresponding earlier sea- 

 son. It is true that the farmers in the basin of 

 Upper Egypt do not plant before we do ; yet at 

 the same it is well known that their crops are 

 similar to our late ones, and seldom come up to 

 an average crop. 



The plant will be from six to ten days in ap- 

 pearing above ground, and as we seldom have 

 heavy frosts later than the 10th of May, we can, 

 ■with good assurance of success, commence a week 

 or ten days bofore this time, but even then we 

 shall occasionally have to re-plant ; but then the 

 extra expense will be only a thorough harrowing 

 of the surface to kill the up-springing weeds, and 

 the re-planting, vrhich, at best, cannot be very 

 expensive. 



PREPAKATION OP THE SOIL. 



So far as we can learn, the practice has been 

 to plow the ground in the spring, but as this is 

 the universal practice with all spring crops, in 

 that part of the State where cotton has baen 

 grown, we may take it for granted that the bene- 

 fits of fall plowing have not been properly con- 

 sidered. Experience has proved that on our own 

 prairie soils the action of the wintes frost on fall 

 plowed land is highly favorable in weathering it 

 down to a friable condition. In the case of the 

 cotton plant this is especially desirable, from 

 the delicacy of its growth at its early ftages. 

 The soil must rot only be finely comminu'ed, but 

 it m"st be deeply mellovr, so that a heavy rain 

 will at once sink below the roots of the young 

 plant, otherwise it is liable to destruction by an 

 cxcl'ss of moisture. From the good effects of 

 fall plowing for similar crops, we are so strongly 

 impressed with its value, that we would recom- 

 mend and urge fall plowing for this crop. Let 

 the plowirg be deep, say eight inches, and if it 

 be followed with a subsoil plow, breoking up the 

 bottom four or s^ix inches more, all the better; if 

 anywise level, it will be better thrown into nar- 

 row lands. We would not ra-plow in the spring, 

 but give the surface a good stirring with a two 

 horse cultivator, at the time of planting. If the 

 the winter frost had failed to soften the entire 

 surface, an iron roller should be passed over be- 

 fore the cultivator; to crush down the lumps. 

 When manure is used it can be spread upon the 

 surface of the fall plowed land at any time dur- 

 ing the winter when the surface is frozen, but at 

 any other time we would not like to drive the 

 team with a loaded wagon over it. The manure 

 will, of course, become incorporated in the soil 

 in the subsequent working of the surface. If 

 the plowing is delayed until spring, the same 

 course should be pursued in regard to it, and the 

 roller will prove to be an indispensible imple- 

 ment, always to be followed with the harrow or 

 cultivator. 



THE SEEDIKG. 



At the South a large amount of seed is used, 

 not so much to insure a good stand for the amount 

 used is greatly in excess of this, but as a 

 manure for tne young plants. As seed is abund- 

 ant and of little value for other purposes, and as 

 manure is scarce, this liberal use of seed may 

 Wi.ll be excused; but at the present, when seed 

 is scarce, a bushel properly plants d will be am- 

 ple for five or six acres. From the lightness of 

 the seed and the adhering cotton, it is not posi- 



