12 THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
From the. 1 ■' y Cultivator. 
THE IMPROVED . . ..iIIRE OF COTTON. 
iWei’.srs. Gaylord 4- . Enterlaining the 
proloLin .est respect and the kindest I'eelings to- 
wards the opinions and practices of those plant- 
ers who are greatly my seniors in age and in 
agricL'ltural experience, I propose now, in this 
third paper, to engage in discussing “the prin- 
ciples and philosophy of this improvement in 
the culture of Cottofi.” I will first remark, di- 
rectly, gentlemen, what 1 have intimated thro’- 
out this correspondence— that in conducting 
these experiments, and in advocating the claims 
of this improvement, (the leading and meritori- 
ous features ot which belong to your invaluable 
Cultivator,) I have had no ambition to gratify, 
w'hich is not common to the lover of science and 
agricultural improvement; nor have I any inter- 
ests to subserve thereby, which may not be the 
privilege ot every planter in the country, how- 
ever humble his pretensions or ability. Yet, 
admonished as I have been, by the precipitate 
and unmeasured tirade of vituperation and 
spleen, which ray first paper excited among the 
corp.s editorial of the country, and others of the 
“skinning gentry,” I have not ventured Upon this 
mo.st delicate position, though long promised, 
wi'hout again revising carehilly and practically, 
the principles and ability of this system. 
In my first paper it will he recollected, I stat- 
ed the grand object which this system oi improv- 
ed culture proposes to accomplish for the plant- 
ing interest of the country, and I also gave there 
a fair anil impartial, and a most satisfactory ex- 
pose of that system, (if such it may be styled,) 
by which the cotton plant is at present grown. 
In my second number, I gave in detail, in an 
equally plain and sim-ple manner, the modus 
oparandi by which my experiments were con- 
ducted; this was no second hand report, or say- 
so of another person, but in pa.rt the work of 
my own hands, and the entire management un- 
der my immediate supervision. In this paper, 
I propose giv'ing th': why and ike wherejore I'or 
ail this— at least, in my humble opinion; and to 
point out the inconsistent, the reckless ana grassy 
policy of the present practices of the country, 
asc ' ared with the sys'ematic, economical and 
pliilts -mic policy of this improvement. 
It .s ny purpose, gentlemen, first to give you 
a CO. ’ t sketch of the botanic characteristics of 
the couon plant, as we meet with it under the 
circu iistance of its most favorable culture. I 
do not ofler this in the spirit of ostentation, to 
appear learned from the technicals used, (the 
necessary peculiarity of every science.) My 
object is simply to call attention to a subject — 
too much neglected by planters — about which 
the books are carelessly in erro-r; and a proper 
knowledge of which, in my opinion, tends great- 
ly 10 indicate the best or right mode of culture. 
The botanic name then, oi the plant wm cul- 
tivate, is Gossypium Kerhacenm; we find it in the 
fifteenth class oithe Linnean system, {Monadel- 
phia,). and in the thirteenth order, {Polyandria ) 
The first leaves that make their appearance af- 
ter the cotyledons, three to six are ovate, and 
indicate certainly the sucker or branch limbs, 
that v.dil first put out from the stalk. After 
these-, we have the cotton leaf proper, three to 
five I'obed, and mercronate, with one gland upon 
the beneath;^ these leaves invariably in- 
dicate the arm limb, growing out horizontally, 
and articulated, forming at each joint one or 
mtre balls; coming out with the arm limb, we 
have almost invariably a branch limb, with se- 
veral ball' — or a stem with one to three balls. 
The stalk is ZigTio-herbaceous and pubescent — 
and in our climate an annual, attaining the 
height of six to ten feet. The period of flower- 
ing is from 10th June to frost; the calix double, 
the outer one three-clelt; capsule 3 to beetled, 
xvith 7 to 9 seeds in a cell, involved in the .sta’ le. 
Early in the morning the milk white* bloom 
rany be seen, in the form of a conic scroll, 
emerging from the fringe work of its outer calix; 
and with the rising sun it unfolds the segments 
ot its petal, and by one hour by sun we behold 
•'The Sea Island Cotton bloom is yellow. 
the lull blown bell-formed flower. Thus, bloom- 
ing white, it remains till 12 o’clock, when with- 
in 15 minutes thereatter, we may observe by ihe 
naked eye, a faint ray of pink skilling the thin 
margins of the segments, which pink color 
may be seen by one to two o’clock, to have dii- 
lused itself throughout the bloom. It thus con- 
tinues changing from white to red, till sun up 
the next mornin when rt will be found a beau- 
tiful brilliant pink;' now with the rising .sun it 
gradually wilts, and by 12 o’lock it drops oft', 
leaving a distinctly formed ball, securely shelt- 
ered by its calix. 
This description, which is strictly correct, dif- 
fers in .several of its particulars liom Eaton’s, 
and from the miserably erroneous engraving 
and description ot the same, to be found at page 
3u7 of “Sears’ 'Wonders of the World;” and 
yet strange to say, this same engraving, m ilh 
probably but a single c rrect fe ture, is copied 
into the “American Agriculturist,” in illustra- 
tion of an article by Dr. Philips. I might point 
out a half doXen errors in that engraving; it 
will answer my present purpose however, that 
1 detain yo : with but two or three such notices. 
You will first observe the bloom and thede.scrip- 
tion given, and you will agree with me at once, 
that M r. Sears has been bugged by an okra flow- 
er; the cotton bloom in its healthy state, is nev- 
er so much flared, nor has it any led spots in the 
bottom. Observe again to the left, that young 
ball with its drooping calix; that is altogether 
unnatural,, and is never seen except where the 
worm is or has been. You will observe the 
same error in the opening ball; every little boy, 
who has picked but flf'ty pounds of cotton, will 
tell you if that were the fact, there woub; be no 
trashy cotton. I am sure Dr. Philips has de- 
tected these blunders, with others equally evi- 
pent. T.his I suppose will be sonsidered a small 
matter, about which nobody is at fault; because 
even intelligent planters have never thought it 
worth while to give a correct description of the 
cotton plant. This same carele.ssness is ob- 
served, when we cast our eyes upon the large 
map of Alabama; we there see a most impos- 
ing engraving ot a large ^ancy plant, with its 
one hundred and one errors, if called a cotton 
plant. Observe again, the beautiful and chaste 
vignette of our own excellent and cherished 
“Southern Cultivator; we see there an engrav- 
ing designed for the cotton plant, yet I am sure 
if the pendent open balls were painted red, you 
would sooner take it for a pomegranle bush! 
To the planter who is satisfied merely to plod 
along the inanimate imitator of some skinning 
neighbor, this sketch will appear a tedious and 
uninteresting detail. I am convinced, however, 
of its importanee — and there is a spirit of im- 
provement abroad in the land, which requires 
just such detail of fact; because it is not possi- 
ble, at least it is extremely improbable, that we 
succeed in improving and periecting the culture 
of any article of vegetation until we make our- 
selves well acquainted with its natural charac- 
teristics. Hence I remark, that when we look 
upon the stately pyramidal appearance of an 
improved cotton stalk, grown under favorable 
circum.stances, we observe at once — indeed, we 
are forcibly struck wiih the distance proper in 
its arrangement upon the soil, which is so clear- 
ly indicated. Again, we observe an uncom- 
monly large amount of foliage for an annual, 
besides some 3 to 4 lbs of seed cotton upon the 
.stalk — literally crowded Irom its base, upon an 
area oi some 15 to 20 square feet, to its apex, at 
the height of G feet. Now in view of these 
cleaily established facts, tiie invariable effect 
oi certain well defined causes, I shall net sup- 
pose any planter so dull as not to know what 
course to pursue, if he find that it require a giv- 
en amount of grain to grow a pig to a given 
size in one year, that to produce another such 
pig the next season, the. necessary amount of 
food or grain must be first supplied. 'Without 
the iood, the pig will be found at the end ot' the 
year a landpike-, and so the cotton, with.out the 
geioe and manure, will be found, as is too com- 
mon, the Utile Frederick t Were I to assume an 
aiiirmalive position in this analogy, every plant- 
er would reply ilistanter, and most indignantly 
too — Sir, you are behind the limes; our own 
sage Franklin, more than a half century ago, 
in his inendly advice to Pemr Richard, has as- 
sured us, “that by constantly taking out of the 
meal tub and never putting in, we shall soon 
find the bottom.” Philosophically true this — 
good homespun and sound doctrine; yet plain 
and simple as be this doctrine, the cotton planter 
knows it only in song — hE acquaintance with 
I his golden truth is them etic entirely. His ex- 
hausted fields and dwarfish puny cotton, tell 
tales more positively contradictory and gloomy, 
than I have room or inclination here to enume- 
rate. 
The governing principle then, in this im- 
provement, IS to givm constant and diligent at- 
tention to keep the meal tub welt supplied. In the 
first place, pioduce and haul out upon your 
land a sufiiciency of good manure, fully to sup- 
ply the requirements of the plant all the season. 
In another place, I have shown that it is a per- 
fectly easy matter to produce this manure, to 
which I will further add here, that the decaying 
materials abound spontaneously, scattered up 
and down, filling each nor k and corner on every 
plantation, during all the season, a waisting 
nuisance that might be easily collected and con- 
verted into a profitable revenue, it but one-third 
the time and attention otherwise sedulously con- 
sumed in the butchery of the soil, in a petit war 
against grass and weeds, the inevitable produce 
of such laiitudinarian systems of culture, was 
devoted to that most valuable employment. In 
this most important department of agriculairCj 
science is actively engaged in rendering the 
planter the most essential service. 
Having derived these important indications 
from the figure and natural characteristics of a 
' perfectly matured cotton plant, the judgment of 
the planter is brought into active requisition irr 
properly adjusting its relative position in width 
of row and its situation on the drill, in order 
that we secure the greatest possible advantage- 
in its subsequent culture. My own experiv.nce 
inclines me to the opinion, that when land is 
improved only to the extent ot 150 to 200 bush- 
els of manure per acre, less than fifteen square 
superficial feet to each stalk will be too close. 
Nor will improvement carried to five times that 
extent, require greater distance than twenty 
square ieel to each stalk. Since, then, it is 
found necessary that each stalk occupy this 
distance, it would appear that the simplest 
course would be to lay off the rows equi dis- 
tant each way. The question isfreqnently.ask- 
ed, “Why not lay off' the land 4 by 4 feet, or 5 
by 4 l'eel7” There is a very serious objection 
to this simple plan, which every planter must 
perceive on a moment’s reflection. Id either 
case, ihe cotton will be found so entirely inter- 
locked by the 20th June to the first of July, as 
to Ibrbid further work; yet we find, under the 
most favorable circumstances of seasons and 
culture, that it will take the stalk until the 10th 
July to attain the height of six feet, short of 
which we should not top it, nor earlier in the 
season; and it is very desirable, and highly ne- 
ce.ssary even, that the cotton be swept once alter 
topping it, which we find impracticable unless 
the rows be laid off wide one way, with a view 
to that desirable operation. Upon land then, 
that is but moderately improved, I prefer the 
rows north and south 5 feet, by 3 feet east and 
west; and upon land in a higher stale of im- 
provement, G feet by 40 inches will be loun’d the 
best distance. Though we shall find the stalk a 
little crow'ded the narrow way by this course, 
yet we secure the more important advantage, in 
being able to scrape and pulverize the surface 
later in the season. I suppose there to be other 
advantages likewise, in this plan of laying the 
rows at right angles, north and south, and east 
and west, and bedding the land north and south, 
to which, however, I must refer at another time. 
The next object to which I shall direct your 
attention, is the mode of culture which I con- 
ceive to be necessary in the alter management 
