THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
91 
in the application of horse-power, and thet utlay 
for plows. The same remark is applicable to 
many other tool.s, though I have not space to 
enumerate them. 
In reclaiming and fertilising our exhausted 
lands, much more can be effected by economy. 
Almost every farm and field has, contiguous to 
it, the elements of fertility that can be more 
cheaply used than the tedious process of hauling, 
to and from your farm-yard, litter and manure. 
For this you must study in the field rather than 
the books. The practice of deep or sob-soil 
plowing must be a powerful agent in fertilising, 
and improving the susceptibility of our ex- 
hausted lands. We had better study to under- 
stand this thing before we begin, else we will 
waste much labor as well as money, before we 
acquire the necessary tact: 
I see, on every farm, much labor expended in 
hauling manure. Would we not do well to cal- 
culate The difference in the expense and results 
of raising and turning under green crops, litter, 
or whatever we have near the field 1 I think 
much economy could be used there. 
On the subject of draining thoroughly all wet 
land, and ditching the hill-sides, so as to prevent 
washing, I believe all are now agreed; and I 
know, tiom experience, that much can be saved 
by understanding well the text, before you begin 
the commentary. 
I could extend this paper, by giving more ca- 
ses of bad economy in iarming, though this will 
suffice for an illustration. I am not opposed to 
cautious speculation in farming, but it should 
be used to illuminate, enlighten ; not to super- 
.sede, or supplant w’eil-tried practices. Farming 
is, essentially, a practical business; and none 
but a practical, successtul larmer should ever be 
high authority. Theory should be the hand- 
maid, not the head of farming institutions; and 
though we can, by carelul incredulity, improve 
our practices, by listening to the teachings of 
theory, there are lew nuisances that we should 
be more guarded against, if we aim to thrive by 
farming. 
I w'ill return, and urge again on my farming 
brethren to first study and improve, as much as 
they well can, on those ideas, practices and tools 
tbatihey expect tocontinue using on their farms. 
First make yourself master of that; then resort 
to the most successful practices and best experi- 
ence you have around you, or that you have in- 
herited from practical parents. Carry these 
home; modify and apply them to yciir peculiar 
wants. Make yourself familiar with the use of 
these', and then, w’hen you have leisure, and you 
can appropriate two hours every day, sit down 
and hold a friendly confab, w'ith those who do all 
their plowing in the shade. They will teach you 
how to spend money, and ho'w to do a great 
many foolish things on your farm. But il you 
will listen carelunly, aed select witHcaution, you 
may, once in a while, get a good idea from them ; 
a-nd one good idea, properly used on a l^rm, will 
pay for any ten agricultural papers in the United 
States. But before you spend money on a new 
idea, study it well, il you want to profit by farm- 
ing. 
I may, at some future time, if I have health 
and leisure, give you my ideas more in detail, 
on particular practices and projects, that I see 
proposed to farmers, if I should be vain enough 
to suppose I could be useful. 
Respecifuliv, J. S. Whitten. 
Mount Zion, May 6, 1845. 
Foi the Southern Cultivator. 
Cotton Culture. 
Mr. Camak ; — Having seen the report of Mr. 
R. P. Sasnett and others w'ho have been experi- 
menting upon Dr. Cloud’s plan of planting cot- 
ton, and having, in ’44, made a small trial my- 
self, and discovering that my result approached 
so near in quantity that of Mr. R. P. Sasnett, I 
am encouraged to report through your very use- 
ful periodical, the quanty of seed cotton which 
I grew per acre. The land, in a natural state, 
is a sandy ridge, had been cultivated several 
years, and was, consequently, somewhat e.x- 
hausted; perhaps six or eight hundred pounds 
might have been grown upon it, unassisted by 
manure. In ’43 it was not cultivated, but was 
used as a pasture for calves. In February of 
last year, 1 had the land broken deep with a 
scooter f low, alter which ! hauled out my ma- 
nure and laid it in piles at suitable distances. 
On the •2d of April, I laid off the rows at the 
distan'^e of 24 feet the narrow way. This was 
performed with a very narrow plow. On the 3 1 
of April, the rows were run off the wide way, 
4 feet, with a shovel plow, and the manure de- 
posited in the check, in such quantity as to near- 
ly fill the shovel furrow at each hill ; alter which 
the bedding or ridging was performed the wide 
way with a very simple kind of turn pi iw, leav- 
ing enough of the middies unplowed to retain 
the small scooter marks as guides in planting. 
On the 4th of April the ridges were opened with 
a small scooter and light stock, the seed rubbed 
in leached ashes, and a few dropped in each hill 
and covered with feet. The ground being dry 
at this period, the seed did not vegeta’e till after 
the fall of a shower, which was I5th April. — 
After the rain the middles were turned out. As 
soon as the cotton was up it was hoed, leaving 
three or four stalks in a hill. The seconu work- 
ing was performed by running a small plow 
round the cotton, and leaving the middles un 
plowed, and hoeing out, leaving two stalks in 
each hill. In June the middles were plowed 
and the cotton hoed. At this period I discover- 
ed that the cotton was not inclined to branch 
properly, and consequently I thinned it down to 
one stalk in a hill. 
At this time the plants were blooniing, and on 
many stalks several bolls were found. Early in 
July I plowed and hoed the ground very liohtlv, 
which finished the culture. On the Kith July I 
topped the cotton plants; i' branched so as to 
fill up the row the wide way, and produced Iwo 
thousand and thirty-four pounds per acre. Had 
the thinning been perlormed in proper time, I 
doubt not but that the product v/ould liave been 
larger. This fact is detailed as an error in the 
cultivation. One stalk in a hill is enough, and 
if thinned as soon as possible every body knows 
that fruit will be produced the. sooner. 
The manure used was “ compost,” prepared 
from stables. The kind of seed planted was 
Rio Janeiro. I shall sav something of this cot- 
ton in my next. Yours, 
Miles, Scarborough. 
Mi. Pleasant, Meriwether co., Ap^il, 1845, 
For the Southerii Cultivator. 
Mr. Camak: — Y/e ha"e, this day, held the 
spring meeting of the Barbour County Agri- 
cultural Society, the proceedings of which we 
will send you as soon as they are published. — 
The number of reports presented by the larm- 
ers to the Society, shovving the quantity of land 
planted in cotton, and the quantiiv in provision 
crops, compared w'ith 1844, will show' that, al 
though we are planting largely of cotton, still 
the provision crop is much increa.sed, with a 
considerable decrease of the cotton crop. We 
trust th*t our Society has' become firmly estab- 
lished in the affections of the farmers' of the 
country, and that the good effects of our associ- 
ation will be seen and tvlt throughout this region 
of country, in the improvement of itsagriculiure. 
We are rapidly passing into th.e year 18-15, 
and in a few more months the fate of the crop 
tt' ill be known. Up to the pre.sent time the pros- 
pects in this section ol country cannot be said to 
be flattering, owing to the considerable quantity 
of cold w'eather and frosts in the month of 
March, and the long continued drouth in the 
month of April, andeven op to the 10th of May, 
making near six weeks without rain : and when 
it is recollected that our sandy land soon swal- 
lows up the rain that falls, and becomes dry, 
the length of time that we have been without 
rain has been most seriously felt in checking 
the young crop in its growth, both corn and cot- 
ton. The oat crop, which is the pi incipal small 
grain of this section, has been greatly injured 
for w'ant of rain. Should the seasons be good 
Irom this time, the crop of the present year may 
be equal to that ol last year. 
As the subject of manures is everyday be- 
coming more and more important, 1 would be 
much pleased to see, in the Cultivator, well 
written essays on the proper and best plan of 
preparing manure. I noticed last summer, in 
the county of Elbert, Urge quantities ol oak 
leaves collected in the woods and thrown in 
piles, there to remain until spring, then to be ap- 
plied to the land. I have commenced the mak- 
ing of manure by hauling the pine leaves (as 
rny land is situated in the long-leaf pine coun- 
try) into a lot where my cattle are penned. I 
haul into the same lot the blue marl. My cat- 
tle are constantly penned on the straw and marl. 
From the effect, up to the present time, the most 
salutary results will grow' out of thissyste.m of 
manuring, as the cotton in the row's where we 
put the compost, is now twice as large as that 
where there w'as no manure put. 
I fwould also be much pleased it some of the 
contributors to the Cultivator would give, 
through its columns, the properties of the t>er- 
muda grass, as to its value for stock. 1 am 
disposed to give up rny hilly lands to the Ber- 
muda grass as a pa'^ture, and only cultivate the 
level lands, and inantire them highly. By this 
arrangement I think I can grow wool profitably 
in this climate. 1 see that Mr. Affleck, of Mis- 
sissippi, is out in favor of the Bermuda grass, 
and there is no man whose opinion I more re- 
spect than I do that of Mr. Affleck. 
The olive seed that you had the kindness to 
give e are not as yet up. Still I hope they 
will come up, as I am anxious to make a trial 
to raise the olive. 
We e.xpect, if spared, to spend the summer in 
the West and North. As we expect to make 
oiir trip, as far as w'e can. an agricultural one, 
should any thing take place, or should 1 see any 
thing th.it [ think will interest my brother fartu- 
er'^, I will write you. Your friend, 
Alexander rvicDoNALD. 
Eufaida, Barbour Co., Ala.., Alay, 1845. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
J'iermuda Grass. 
Mr. Camak; — I find in your April No. a call 
upon Mr. Spalding and mvself for information 
on the subject of eradicating Bermuda grass. 
From my own experience I can give you but 
little information, i have made much inquiry, 
however, of others ; and the result is, together 
with what little experience I have had, that it 
is an extremely , difficult matter to ciadicate it 
entirely; but not at all to smother and check it, 
so tar as to permit the cultivation of any crop. 
Nor do 1 think it advisable to destroy it entire- 
ly ; as, it a proper system of rotation be carri- 
ed on, Bermuda should occupy the ground three 
years in seven— thus: 1,2 and 3 years, Ber- 
muda, catting a crop of oats the first year ; 4th, 
Egyptian or winter oats, (sow’ed the previous 
October, turning the Bermuda sod carefully and 
completely unde!' — which, by the way, requires 
one ol Ruggles, Nourse& Mason’s sod plow's) 
the oats foilqw’ed by a complete covering of 
peas; 5th, Corn, w'ith peas and pumpkins; 6th, 
Cotton; 7th, Cotton, with oats sowed amongst 
the cotton at the last lending— the treading will 
injure them but little — and alter the oats are 
cut, the ground is lel’i to be occupied by Ber- 
muda for three yeais again — which will not be 
the case, if the previous crops have been well 
managed, w'iihout replanting. Apply the ma- 
nure to the corn crop, and as a top-dres.sing to 
the Bermuda in March of the second year. Of 
course, the stock, with the exception of hogs and 
the sheep fattening for the butchers, have no bu- 
siness in the pea or corn field. The poorer 
spots, after receiving a dressing of manure, will 
be more rapidly improved and give a better re- 
turn by two successive crops of sw'eet potatoes, 
covering the vines up caretully each time, than 
by any other crop. 
Such a system will not only improve the land 
highly, each term, but it will allow of Bei muda 
grass being treely introduced. It would also 
directly enrich the planter, inasmuch as it would 
enable him to turn his attention to other things 
