SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
236 
COITGIlT — DirFEEEHT MOSES OF CTJLTUKS. 
Editors Southern CuLT]v.4TOR—l hope that yDu will 
forgive me for thus obtruding my notions of agi iculture 
you. It is witn reluctancCj I assuie you, inciuced 
by distrust of my ability that 1 undertake the task. I 
will first notice Dr. M. W. Philips’ Cotton Culture and 
suggestions to planters, which appeared in the March 
number of your journal. I belive that he is on the right 
track, and to the most of his doctrine concur, but he is 
not sufficiently expliiit, which might lead persons into 
extremes by planting too close, winch would be worse 
than the opposite. 
As there is but few points of difference between Dr. 
Philips, and myself, I will notice them briefly and pass 
on to Mr. Vick’s article. 1 set out with the proposition, 
that close planting and shallow culture forces cotton to 
mature; hence the necessity of not crowding cotton on 
thin land in the drill, which is already too much so in- 
clined, though the rows should be much closer thari upon 
strong land. I hope that Dr. Philips will give the dis- 
tance of his rows and his mode of cultivation, and the qual- 
ity of land he cultivates. I concur with Dr. Philips in 
every point except crowding cotton on thin land in the 
drill, and planting two stalks in a hill. 
Now I have to attack the opinions of an old experienced 
planter and ready and fiuent writer. I do so with all due 
deference and respect for his age and experience, viz : the 
article of Mr. Vick’s, v;hich appeared in the April num- 
ber of the Southern Cultivator. He holds the doctrine 
that the “cotton plant, in its perfect state, is orbicular in 
form, centrally divided by the surface of the earth. Its 
centrallj'- lateral limbs are half the height of the stalk, and 
height gives the distance at which the stalks should 
stand in the row, if not in the hili.” All practical plant- 
ers are aware that the height of stalks and height of limbs 
depend upon the quality of land, and distance. Piney 
woods land commonly has tall stalks and short limbs, 
which, if it was planted each way, the length of the stalk 
would not make 100 pounds of seed cotton to the acre. 
Rich, red river bottom land produces limbs nearly as long 
as the main stalk. 
Again, he proceeds ; “That system of cotton culture 
which gives to the stalk the size it should have, sets its 
squares and forms, and furnishes the earliest picking, is 
the best.” I agree that is correct, except the latter— early 
picking. There is no cotton planter but what has noticed 
that poor lands always mature first. Then, the mode 
of cultivation that would cause rich lands to mature cotton 
as soon as inferior lands, it is evident would bdto lessen 
its productiveness, and put it upon a level with the poor 
land. 
“Stalks at the ends of rows,” he says, “in the jams of 
fences, and volunteers around gins, which are worked 
with the hoe only, usually are hardy and productive.” 
Ail that may be very true, but is there not many other 
causes to induce the productiveness of stalks thus situat- 
ed I Certainly there is. Around gin houses and at the 
ends of rows is always richer than tiie other parts of the 
plantation ; the former made rich by cotton seed, and 
the latter by the grass and weeds that are scraped out of 
the corners and heaped up to decompose. The last and 
principle cause is, distance. I will cite an instance that 
every observer has noticed. Rows running parallel with 
a turning row, the limbs would have many more bolls on 
the side next the turning row than upon the opposite side. 
I would adduce more evidence were it it not fear of occu- 
pying too much space. 
I will now notice Mr. Vick’s Haywood observation and 
then I shall have done with him for the present. I hav« 
to quote him at considerable length that I may be fully 
understood. Quoth he, “While on my Haywood estate, I 
was in the midst of my cotton scrapers, Vv^hen the third ob- 
servation was made by me, which gives to the orbicular 
idea such completeness or value as it may be thought or 
found to possess. I was walking with my driver, noticing 
the past and passing cultivation of the crop, and where we 
were, being tyo to three feet high. The field some days 
before had been deeply, too deeply, plowed, to a depth, 
say of 5 or G inches, and where we were for the m.oment 
standing the bar brought to within 4 to 6 inches of the stalk. 
The depth to which the plow was sunk, and the closeness 
to the stalk at which it passed, threw the cotton upon a 
ridge of less than a foot in width, with its roots shorn to 
a trimness of less than six inches. The cut roots being 
sufficiently numerous to Vv^hiten, as my driver termed it, 
the sides of the ridges, combined with the dry and intense- 
ly hot weather, and exposed condition of the plant, brought 
to my recollection my kinsman’s remarks, and former re- 
flections upon them, v/hich caused me plainly to see that 
the roots of the' cotton should not have been cut, and that 
the plow should not have passed nearer to the stalks than 
the mark furnished by the roofs and indicated by the 
limbs whose length at all ages of the stalk, in its natural 
state, will be found to be equal. In spite of the dirt in- 
stantly thrown to it, and everything I could do, the squares 
then on the cotton were cast, and none since then made 
their appearance.” 
Is it not reasonable that plowing so deep and near the 
stalk in such intensely hot and dry weather, leaving the 
narrow ridges to be penetrated and baked by the scorching 
rays of the sun, if it had no lateral roots at all would 
ruin it and be almost equivalent to plowing it less I If he 
(Mr. Vick) had turned the other side of the plov/ to his 
cotton and hilled it up nicely, the effect would have been 
beneficial, unless there had been hard leaching rains and 
the ground neglected being stirred until it had become dry 
and hard. Under those circumstances I would not have 
advised deep plowing. In fact, that would be a dilemma in 
which a person should never suffer themselves to get, and 
if they should be placed in that situation, it would be 
doubtful upon which horn to hang. 
Nov/ I will give you an observation of mine, relative to 
latteral roots. I have noticed after a hard rain the 
ground perfectly white with the small roots of cotton, 
which before the rain was just under the surface. The 
cotton that I now have reference to was not more than 4 
inches high, the roots were more tlian a foot in length, 
the tap root being considerable longer than the stalk. 
There is one fact that is evident to my mind, that is, you 
have got to keep ^^our ground well stirred and deep, it makes 
no difference what you break, if you calculate to make a 
good crop. By such a course you keep a large quantity of 
moist earth on each side of the main tap root, which pre- 
vents the narrow ridge from leaching ; it also enables the 
ground to inhale the damp, heavy atmo, sphere and dews, 
thereby keeping the land beneath cool and moist, nourish- 
ing the roots and enabling them to penetrate still deeper; 
and after you are done working your crop, which is al- 
ways at a time when the cotton needs the most support, 
you leave a well tilled bed of earth for the roots to take 
possession of and support the declining stalk when it 
needs it of all other times the most. 
Messrs. Editors, I feel satisfied that I have already 
wearied your patience, so I will give you my mode of 
cultivation briefly and conclude. Lands should be broken 
well and very deep, and planted five feet in the row and 
20 inches in the drill. Upon old lands the rows should be 
drawn in less than five feet and the drill should have 
more distance As soon as the cotton is large enough to 
scrape, it should be plowed deeply, lapping the furrows in 
the middle of the row, then a scraper run after cutting so 
close to the cotton as to leave the drill ouly about an inch 
wide ; the hoes should then follow in a hurry, leaving the 
cotton one width of the hoe and a* near bn* ii*lk in a 
