THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
1 o 
1 »> 
-plant is at oiica placed beyond all danger, since 
i'ts cap-root will no-sr hav'e taken such hold upon 
the manure below as to enable the plant to out- 
strip either grass or vreeds, having yet to spring 
up. 
Linder this treatment, the tinic-consiiviing and 
v/orse than useless operations of bar-skearhtg, 
s '.ra.ping and chopping out are saved, as much to 
the benefit of the tender plant, as to the interest 
and economy of the planter, in despatching the 
hiirrij and push at this stage of the crop; and at 
the e'onclusion of this first working, 1 have my 
cotton growing off and doing Aveil. 1 have now 
no further use for^ilough in its subsequent cul- 
ture, but use the a Irind of horse-hoe — I i 
call it a sweep in the absence of a more appro- 
priate name. 
[ Here follows a wood cut representation of the 
sweep, a kind of plough used by some planters 
at the South. The one here recommended is 
made by rvelding two narrorv wings over the 
point of a scooter or bull tongue, inclining back- 
wards, with the ends of the wings two feet apart. 
It is so fi.xed upon the stock (that of a common 
shovel plough) that it rvill not enter the ground 
deeper than one inch, if so deep.] 
The great and singular advantages of the 
sweep over all instruments of the plough, har- 
row or hoe kind that I have ever used, are these 
—that it will ktU a greater quantity of grass and 
weeds in a given time, and do less injury to the 
surface roots of the plant, so essential to its pro- 
gressive prosperity. 'I’he hoe-hands following 
this instrument, thin the cotton to a stand, one 
s^al'r in a place, and draw up a small quantity of 
.soil to tire standing plant. The entire subse- 
quent culture is pertbrmed Avith the SAveep and 
hoe, Avhich should simply scrape and pulverize 
the surface, so as to kill any grass and Aveeds 
that may appear, and alloAV vl free circulation of 
atmospheric air to the fibrous roots of the fniit- 
ing .stalk, requiring at this critical per iod all the 
aid and nourishment that culture, soil and at- 
mosphere can afford. Ply the first of July my 
cotton stands from five to nine feet high, and I 
have it topped by the 10- h at farthest, after Avhich 
I run the sAveep once through it, and the hoe if 
necessary, to remove anj^ grass that may have 
sprung up immediately aboAm the stalk. After 
this, and by this time frequently in places the 
cotton Avill be so much interlocked, and the 
ground so shaded, as to keep doAvn all other Am- 
getation — yet it may be found necessary again 
to chop about in places Avith the hoe, AA^hen the 
cotton may not haAm locked so early. This 
.should be invariably attended to. This brings 
us again to the season of harvesting the .staple. 
Let no planter prejudge and reject this sa^s- 
tem, upon the score of sinrplicity, supposing the 
process too simple to accomplish the object pro- 
posed; first, act Avisely, malrethe experiment and 
try it. Strictly folloAV this plain and simple pro- 
cess, and if the land does not rcAAmi'd your pains- 
taking, with. fi,ve or six fold the quantity jKr acre, of 
a superior staple, than has at any previous sea- 
son been taken from it, in its natural state, I Avill 
present the e,s;perimenter with one bushel of my 
improved seed, with Avlrich to perfect the experi- 
ment. At another time I propose devoting a 
paragraph to the importance of selecting and im- 
proving cotton seed. 
It AVI 11 be observed that manuring constitutes 
a large item in this system of improAmment, a 
source of revenue too much underrated by plan- 
ters, and consequently too mucfi neglected, be- 
cause the subject requii’es a little extra attention 
— which attention is so essential to the pro.sperity 
and well-doing of a fann. Nor, gentlemen, have 
I seen any thing better said, or more true, than 
I find in the sentiment, under the head of “a few 
queries,” in the last December Cultivator, where 
}mu remark to the planter and farmer: “In your 
manures is your gold mine, more Amluable than 
any of the Carolina ones, and you should be 
anxious to increase them accordingly.” But I 
hear some planters say — “it is impossible to pro- 
duce so much manure” — this is, hoAvever the re- 
sult of inexperience, and the AAmnt of determina,- 
tion. I am entirely convinced, from my experi- 
ence in making manure, that it is not only prac- ' 
ticablc, but a perfectly easy ta.sk to prepare, upon 
eA^ery plantation in the cotton region, great or 
.small, 1.500 bushels of an excellent article of com- 
po.st, per annum, to the hand — at a co.st of less 
than tAA’o cents per bushel — by the assistance of 
the stock of horses, coaaas and hogs, upon pro- 
perly arranged lots, 'I'his is dons by having the 
lots well littered, by throAving in pine straAV, in 
large quantities and fEequentl}^ or oak leuA^es, 
Avhere the pine straAV is not to be had, Avith cotton 
and corn-.stalks. &c., and occasionally haul and 
scatter upon the litter a few loads of muck or 
marl, one or both of Avhich may be found on or 
near every fann in the country; upon these lots, 
pen and feed your stock every" night. The ma- 
nure thus prepared, .should be collected in pens 
or pits, three or lour times during the year, after 
heaA'y falls of ruin, and the lots replenished Avith 
pine StraAV, &c. — by this means a A'ery" large 
amount of manure is. collected dining the sea- 
son, and that too, at an inappreciable cost. — 
Again, AA"e have another ditnculty; there are but 
fcAV persons Avho believe that pine straAV can be 
converted into manure; for the benefit and infor- 
mation of such, AA"ho may read this, permit me 
to quote a single sentence from Liebeg’s cele- 
brated Avork upon Agricultural chemistry. — 
“The bark and foliage of oak.s contains from 6 
to 9 per cent of potash. The needles of firs and 
pines eight per cent.” But it is not on accoimt 
of the potash exclusiA'-ely, that I prefer pine 
StraAV, to all other vegetable matter, in the prepa- 
ration of manure — since it possesses anotlier in- 
valuable quality aboA'c all others, in absorbing 
the juices of the manure, which are thus saA'ed 
from eAuaporation, and readily applied to the 
land. I doubt not but a single year’s experience 
Avill convince every intelligent planter of the in- 
numerable advantages of this improvement, and 
its perfect adaption to the culture of cotton and 
other crops. 
I Avill noAv close this number by a A'ery fcAV re- 
marks upon the character and quality of the soil 
upon AA"hich my experiments liaise been conduct- 
ed. It is a high ridge land, readily recognized, 
and its quality distinctly understood, in our south- 
ern country, imder the name of ‘forked-teaf, 
black-jack, pine-barren,” a deep, porous, sandy, 
supenstratiun, lying under a tolerable good clay, 
at a distance of tAVO to three feet beloAV the sur- 
face. A true picture of nature, and naturally 
poor enough. This land, under the treatment 
above detailed, grcAV my cotton, from Avhich I 
haA"e gathered a greater number of pounds per 
acre, (indeed almost double,) than I haAm ever 
seen recorded, is in its natural state, inferior to 
the aA^erage quality of cotton land, by at least 
one half I might refer you, if necessary, to 
more than one hundi’ed gentlemen, planters from 
Georgia and Alabama, Avho hai^e examined my 
experiments earefully, and seAmral of them at 
various stages of its growth, and AAuth one gene- 
ral eonsent, pronounced it a fair test, and a great 
improvement. I hai^e, from seAmral stalks that 
grew on the three acres, in the proper places, 
taken 3i to 4 lbs. of cotton, coxcf ully weighed . — 
In the perfection of this improvement, yet in a 
state of great crudeness, Avhen every stalk upon 
the acre (2940) shall mature equtiUy well, Avhat 
may I reasonably calculsite to gatherl 
“ Nil desperandum, 
Possunt quia, posse videntur.” 
N. B. Cloud, M. D. 
Planters’ Retreat, Ala., Dec. 26, 1842. 
Infallible Cure for a Foundered Horse. 
— If your horse founders over night, in the mor- 
ning take a pint of hog’s lard, put it in a vessel 
and make it boiling hot, clean his hoofs well, set 
his foot in the lard. Heat it for each hoof boil- 
ing hot; take a spoon and put the fat over the 
hoof as near the hair as possible, and he Avill be 
fit for use in three hours if it is done early in the 
morning. It is better to remoAm the horse’s 
shoe, but I have made several cui’es Avithout. I 
have tried this on 'many horses dming a period 
of fifteen years, and have never failed. 
LIME FOR FRUIT TREE.S. 
The suggestions beloAV as to the use of lime 
around fiuit trees, are worthy of attention. In 
the autumn of 1841, Ave laid bare the roots of a 
munber of unthrifty apple and peach trees, and 
left them exposed during the winter, returned the 
dirt in the spring, and applied to the roots of each 
tree about half a bushel of gas lime. Last 
year the trees seemed greatly improved, and the 
pears bore more than three times as much as 
they did the two previous }"ears; the limbs had to 
be propped up, and the fruit seemed improA'ed. 
dTe treated some old genuine trees in a similar 
manner, and the influence was obA'iously benefi- 
cial. Ashes are a good substitute for lime, and 
ordinary lime AAmuld probably do as aa'cII as the 
gas lime. Exposing the roots of trees occasion- 
ally during Avinter, it is well kiiOAvn, is A"ery be- 
neficial. — D. Farmer. 
“The Peach Tree. — I have perfect faith in 
the beneficial use of calcareous suLstances ap- 
plied to the roots of trees, sensible, as one of your 
corre.spondents has obserA’'ed, that ‘ox3'gen is the 
basis of acidity,’ Avith wliich all putrid substan- 
ces are charged: and it is with this AueAA" that 
Maj. Reybold, of DelaAvare, that fii’st of cultiva- 
tors of the peach, for he and his sons, aiid sons- 
in-laAv noAV number 73,000 peach trees pflanted 
in orchards, is at this time actiA'ely engaged in 
dressing his trees Avith shell-marl; by depositing 
a quantity at the root of eA^ery tree, to be puNer- 
ized by the frosts the ensuing winter. He also 
cultiA'ates his orchards with the plough; turning 
a shalloAv furroAv OA"er the whole surface of the 
land, three times during the summer, a weight}' 
aflair, .seeing that one of these orchards contains 
more than lOO acres; by these means he con- 
ceives that he renovates the land and benefits 
the health of the trees, which a.re indeed in full 
vigor, although many of them are A'ery old, and 
the size of some apple trees of mature groAvth. 
I remember also that Mr. Dager, one of the pro- 
prietors of the lime quarry, mentioned at page 
309 of the 4th a'oI. of the Cabinet, the lime from 
AAdiich Avas proved by anatysis to yield 96.6 per 
cent of carbonate and not a trace of magnesia, 
increased the size of the fruit of an apricot tree 
three fold, by digging in around its roots a quan- 
tity of lime, adding also to its flavor in an equal 
degree. a. t. b. 
November 22, 1842, 
Lime and Marsh Mud. — A gentleman distin- 
guished for good and great qualities, tells us, that 
on a sandy soil, he| has found lime a poAverful 
fertilizer. A poor field put in corn — yield ten 
bushels — folloAved b}" oats— crop light —succeeded 
by Avheat — yield not more than the seed — limed, 
and next crop gaA"e 40 bushels to the acre. Ex- 
perience has taught him the great A’alue of marsh 
mud, especially AAdien used in combination AAuth 
a small quantity of lime. Keeps a small force 
especiall}' assigned to the collection of marsh 
mud, weeds, leaves, mould from the woods, &c., 
and?is amply compensated for it — cannot too 
highly recommend the use of marsh mud — has 
covered seA^eral acres Avith brushwood. The fer- 
tilizing effect very obvious, and thinks poor land 
may be reclaimed by a covering of brushwood, 
very speedily, and Avith great economy as to the 
labor and the results — is v'eiy careful to haA"e all 
brush not large enough for fire AV'ood, cA'en the 
pruning of his orchards resen'ed to be spread 
upon the most exhausted portions of his land.) 
American Farmer. 
Pruning. — Apple trees ought not to be pruned 
until the last of May or June; in the Avinter or 
until the last of May they ought not to be touch- 
ed, and ought to be cut very close to the limb, 
the one cut from, or close to the body of the tree. 
The Avound heals up immediately if cut off in 
May. — Tennessee Agriculturist. 
Durable Rails. — Rails ought all to be split 
in April or May, Avhen the bark Avill peel off the 
tree, and then the sap rails will la.st as long as 
the inside heart rails will. This is material to 
Iniow. — Tennessee AgricuUurist. 
