THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
7 
sires that we should go unrewarded for our ef- 
forts to prcmote the interests of the agricultu- 
rists of the Southern States. Again, the price 
of subsciiptioa is so low as to preclude the pos- 
sibility of sending out traveling agents, even 
though they could travel among our agricultu- 
ral friends fr^ of expense. We can <mly hope, 
therefore, to obtain a general circulation for our 
paper, by the united and zealous eflorts ol the 
firiends of the <vork, in their respective counties 
and neighborhoods. If this reasonable hope be 
disappointed, we have no other alternative but 
to abandon the enterprise; but we feel assured it 
tvifinotfeeiSsappointed, and we will not, there- 
lorc, acknowledge any such word as “fail” in 
our vocabulary. Let but the friends of agricul" 
ture, and the agriculturists themselves, come 
up boldly to the work, and the day is not far dis- 
tant when the Southern Cultivator will become 
to the South, what those of longer standing at 
the East and North have been and s^ill ase to 
New England and ^he Middle States. This is 
indeed .promising much, yet it shall be fulfilled 
to the letter, if our f riends, who have assured us 
of their aid as contributors, do not disappoint 
our just and reasonable expectations. 
In conclusion, we beg leave to remark, that 
although our list is increasing daily, the num- 
ber ot subscribers is yqt inadequate, wholly in. 
adequate to remunerate ns for our labor and ex- 
penses. In view, hotyeyer, of a greatly in- 
creased patronage^ w® have worked ofi" a large 
edition of this number of the paper, and all new 
Bubscribers may therefore certainly rely on be- 
ing supplied with the present number, and the 
edition will be increased if circomstances re- 
quire, 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
^‘Agricola,” whom we welcome most cordi- 
ally to our columns, asks, why it is that he has 
seen nothing in our first volume on the culture 
of Sea Island cotton. The answer is, doubtless, 
as he supposes, the Cultivator has very few pa- 
trons cn the seaboard, and those few have not 
contributed a word ea the subject, and as we 
were whoUy ignorant of the system of culture 
of long staple cotton, our columns have, hereto- 
fore, contained nothing in relation to it. We 
however thank “Agricola” for inviting the dis- 
cussion, and trust that it may elicit valuable in- 
formatios to the cultivators of that class of cot- 
ton. 
W ith regard to the peculiar kind of land to 
which “Agricola” alludes, we suggest the pro- 
priety of first analysing the soil to ascertain its 
.cons^uent parts, then by a comparison with 
the soil which produces the long staple cotton 
successfully, the defects may be readily disco- 
yeredj and the corrective applied accordingly. 
in reply to the inquiry contained in his post- 
script, we remark, that the cultivat*r is manu- 
factured, in this city, by Mr, Alexander Phil- 
ip, and is alnticnary, or to expand to any 
desired width.— price seven dollars. 
A.correspondent from Butts county, for whose 
frank and candid letter we thank him, takes us 
to task lor the scantiness of our editorial re- 
marks, and says we sometimes permit commu- 
nications, containing incorrect vfews^ to pass 
unnoticed, 
^‘For imstaace,” says he, “in the able report of 
the committee on cotton from the Newberry Ag- 
ricultural Society, published in the Southern 
Cultivator, of the 25th of October, the commit- 
tee say, fike seed should then be strewed very 
from three to lour bushels per acre.’ — 
Now i differ entirely from that report, in plant- 
ing cotton seed thick, (unless the ground is very 
rough.) Cotton seed should be planted as thin 
as possible, to insure a stand. It would be best 
to have only enough stalks lor a stand, and none 
to chop out. But as that connot be done, the 
nearer we approach to it the better. When cot- 
ton is planted thin, the growth is not checked, 
and it continues to grow. When t lanted thick, 
in sprouting, it bursts up the crust of dirt that 
covers it, leaves the roots exposed, and some- 
times dies. If it does not die, when the hoe 
passes through, in chopping out, the stalks in- 
tended to be left, fall to the ground. But if 
there are but two or three stalks in a place, the 
growth is more vigorous, and the chopping out 
much mors rapid asdeasy. After .cotton forms 
the third leaf, it should be brought to a final 
stand as soon as possible, as it then branches 
better and matures earlier. As facts are worth 
more than arguments in planting, suggest to 
the chairman of that committee, Mr. Editor, to 
try a few rows of cotton planted thin. 
“Again, in a cccemunkatioa from that minuie : 
observer and practical farmer, Mr. John Farrar, 
he comes to the conclusion, that this climate is 
too dry, to make as much corn per acre, as is 
made in more northern climates. I think Mr. 
F. is mistaken on that subject — at least, I hope 
so. On uplands, by proper manuring, and, per- 
haps, subsoiling, (I never used a subsoil plow,) 
or on rich bottom land, one hundred bushels of 
corn can be raised on one acre ol land, and per- 
haps more, in the State oi Georgia. The rea- 
son that I have come to this conclusion is, I rais- 
ed the present year, on about seven acres of 
bottom land, on the Oakmulgee river, more 
than one hundred barrels of corn. Sickness 
prevented my measuring the produce of a sin- 
gle acre, which, if done, would have shown a 
large yield. The corn was planted on the 9th 
of May, and plowed and hoed only onqe. And 
from the seven acres thriteen large wagon toads 
and fourteen ox cart loads of close, slip shuck- 
ed corn was gathered, besides pumpkins without 
number. 
“I regret very much that an acre was not 
measured. Therefore vague calculations of 
the ground and quantity raised, prove nothing. 
It has convinced me, however, that one hun- 
dred bushels of corn per aere eaa be raised in 
this State. 
“I am anxious that your Cultivator should be 
established on a firm and permanent footing. — 
The information diffused by it among the plant- 
ers, will be worth more to them than all the rant 
about politics in all the pelitical papers in the 
State.” 
We plead guilty to the charge made against 
our editorial labors, and offer, in extenuation, 
that our arduous duties in another department 
of our vocation, prevented ,&ur bestowing as 
much attention on the Cultivator as we desired. 
This, however, will not be the case ia future, .as 
our arrangements ace .so made as to permit us 
to bestow more attention upon the editorial 
columns p.f the Cultivator than we have hereto- 
fore done. Another reason for not controvert- 
ing the views of our contributors, was a desire, 
on our part, to invite discussion from others, 
whose practical experience would be of more 
value to our readers than our crude notions. — 
And we are gratified that in thjs we have suc- 
ceeded so far as to draw out our correspondent, 
we hope, now that he has “droU tkt tee,” , 
will continue to favor us with his views upon 
any and all subjects connected with the objects 
ot our journal. 
AGRICULTURAL PAPERS -PREPARATION OF 
COTTON. 
In thanking our frigid, Col. M’Donald, for 
his zealous efforts in our behalf, and the expres' 
sion of his kind feelings, we beg leave to invite 
the attention of the reader to the subjoined ex- 
tract from his letter. We concur fully with 
him as to the value of Agricultural Papers up- 
on the productive industry of the country, and 
can but hope that the day is not far distant when 
their value will be more generally appreciated. 
The preparation of cotton for market is a 
subject, astonishing as it may be in a cotton 
growing region, which we think is not sufficient- 
ly appreciated among- our planters generally — 
though there are many exceptions. The truth 
is that too many lof nur planters are quite too 
careless in gathering and ginning it, and then 
by a very unwise system of economy they 
seem to think if they put it in baggin j that will 
get it to the market in which it is first sold, it is 
all sufficient Indeed it never seems to have oc- 
curred to this class of planters that, ail cotton is 
bought by dealers with direct reference to the 
order in which it is when sold, and make 
their bids accordingly. As we shall devote 
considerable attention to this subject at the pro- 
per period for introducing it to the attention of 
our readers, we need not on this occasion say 
more than to assure every planter that, the pro- 
per care and attention to it, is always liberally 
rewarded by the additional price they receive 
for their cotton. 
Eufaula, Ala., January 2, 1844. 
“I should be extremely sorry to know that your 
work, the only one at this time in the region of 
the country, properly speaking, the cotton grow- 
ing section, should not only be not sustained, but 
well supported. It only requires some exertion 
on the part of the farmers not only to sustain 
such a work, but to make it a useful and valua- 
ble part of every man’s library. Next to the 
bible, each farmer should read and study an 
agricultural work, where he could learn a thou- 
sand different maxims that would apply to his 
every day business. He would there find out 
how his brother farmers do many things that 
he never once thought ot 
In our region of country, we hay.g pzepared, 
the past fall, much beautiful and fine cotton.— 
The cotton raised in Barbour county has been 
selling at Eufaula, (many of the farmers not 
having to haul it more than ten to fifteen 
miles,) for 8, 9, and as high as 10 cents, and 
some lots have gone over 10 cents. The high 
prices are, no doubt, owing to two .causes: the 
one is, tnat totur soil is peculiarly adaptod to Jhe 
raising of the great southern staple; :tJto other 
is, the care and attention bestowed in the prepa- 
ration for market. The proper preparation of 
cotton for mariket is a subject that is too much 
neglected by aine-tenths ,of the cultivators ol 
that valuable staple. 
I made some twenty crops of cotton in a small 
way in my native State, Georgia, and 1 had 
been so often told in your city, and in Macon, 
by ihe purohasers, that my cotton was badly 
handled, that my gin was a bad one, that I deter- 
mined, if possible, to prepare my cotton in a dif- 
ferent way; that is, to make less and put it up 
so that when it came to be sampled, I would at 
least not be ashamed to stand by and see it 
drawn out. In a future letter I will probably 
give you my present system of preparing my 
cotton for market.” 
