30 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
COl'TON GROWING. 
The following, upon tlie subject of Uolton 
growing, we extract Iroin the Concoidia Intelli- 
gencer, it being from the pen i)f our iriend and 
correspondent, Tho.s. i^iiieck, and knowing, as 
we do, the interest he takes in the subject, we 
feel we cannot aid the cause ol improvement 
better than b}' givingcirculation to the statement 
contained in the article. We have before ex- 
pressed our belief in Dr. Cloud’s system, and 
we consider the experiment here made by Mr. 
Affleck, as lully carrying out the views of that 
gentleman. 
II we could, upon our hill lands, produce 
even 2,000 lbs. per acre, by adopting a reasona- 
bly improving system, and by almost any extent 
cf manuring, w'ould W'e not be immensely bene- 
fitted 7 How many planters, cultivating hill 
lands, gather over 700 lbs. per acre 7 Not 
many. And yet, to do even this, requires in- 
cessant hard work from New Year’s day until 
Christmas. The difference between ploughing, 
planting, tending, and picking over, say 300 
acres, and 100 is very great, and would allow ot 
much labor being bestowed in making and ap- 
plying manure, and in extra-deep ploughing. 
Nor need 1 descant upon thecomlort and advan- 
tage to the planter, of being able to plant and 
tend as much groupd w'ith one half of his hands , 
as the xchole of. them can pick clean by Christ- 
mas— leaving him the other hall of his force lor 
the rest of the work neces.sary on a farm, includ- 
ing, ol course, under such a system, manure- 
making. 
How it would astonish the farmers in my na- 
tive country, to be told, that at this late day of 
A.gricultural improvement, their brethren in 
every part of America, and particularly amongst 
the travelled and enlightened Southern planters, 
it required a lengthy argument to prove to them 
the value ol deep ploughing and abundant ma- 
nuring ! 
Soon alter reading Dr. Cloud’s communica- 
tion, last spring, I had a piece of tolerably good 
hill land, containing three acres, three rods and 
thirty-five poles, cleared oil the previous year’s 
trash — some 200 bushels ot manure, per acre, 
added, consisting of the scrapings of the cow^-pen, 
partly decayed cotton seed, and so on. This I 
scattered broadcast; then threw up ridges, which 
average, from centre to centre, five feet four in- 
ches; then harrowed down by running a heavy- 
harrow lengthwise of the ridge. Here 1 plant- 
ed some very superior gul;-hill seed, presented 
to me by Mr. Comptan, Sen., near Rodney. 
The seed I first dampened pretty well with 
brine, and then rolled in dry ashes— dropping 
some ten or fifteen seeds at about ev'ery 26inch- 
e.s, which were afterwards thinned out to a sin- 
gle plant. 
I am not certain of the amount of labor be- 
stowed upon this piece of ground — the tending 
was the same as that given to the rest of the 
crop; further than that, my overseer, Mr. Ven- 
triss, has repeatedly said to me, that he had not 
one half the trouble with the grass on that piece, 
that he had with any other part of the planta- 
tion — “that the grass did not trouble him there.” 
I rather think that it did trouble some of us this 
year ! This was, of course, to be ascribed to 
the deep ploughing. 
Nowq gentlemen, from the (scant) four acres 
of ground, Mr. Ventriss assures me that he has 
already picked, 7,325 lbs. of superior seed cot- 
ton ; and that there is yet cotton enough open, 
and to open, to yield over 2,000 lbs. more. I 
know that he has been very particular, both in 
picking and weighing, and have every reason to 
believe his report to be correct. 
Now here we have, on a first hurried experi- 
ment, 9,325 lbs. of seed cotton from (scant) four 
of ground; or allowing 1,330 lbs. to make a 
bale, (and as it is a very fine article, I think it a 
fair allowance.) we have seven bales of ginned 
cotton ! 
I leave it to yourselves to draw your own 
conclusions, as to the amountof time, labor and 
manure, that one could very easily afford to be- 
stmo upon such a small tract of land, to produce 
such a re.sulL ! It required at least 12 acres of 
the same land immediately adjoining, treated, 
planted and tended i.i the usual way, to yield as 
mud) cotton ; and the staple is, to my eye, not 
nearly as good. 
Wes!ern Farmer and Gardener. 
NEW METHOD OF MAKING MANURES. 
We published the following article some 
weeks ago, but having been called on by several 
friends for copies of the paper containing it, 
which we were unabie to furnish, we conclud- 
ed to re-publish it, ana as the experiment can be 
made with little trouble or expense, we hope 
they will give it a fair trial and report the result 
for publication. — Ed. R. Star. 
1. Form your barn yard with a gradual de- 
scent to one side, so that the liquid formed by 
the rains will flow gently to that side; make the 
bottom as hard and smooth as possible, that 
there may be little or no waste by soaking into 
the earth. Arrange your stables, hog pen, &c., 
in such order, as to throw all the litter and ma- 
nuie into the yard. 
2. Sink a vat or reservoir to the lower side of 
the yard, of sufficient capacity to contain the 
juice ofthe yard. The most common form of 
the vat is six feet width by three feet deep, and 
twelve or more in length, according to the size 
of the yard, and the amount of liquor flowing 
from it. When the vat is more than twelve in 
length, it will be best to divide it by partitions 
into two or three parts, so that if at any time you 
want to use only part ofthe liquor, you can do 
so without any inconvenience. It w'ill be fur- 
ther desirable to have the vat so connected with 
the yard, that when once full, and you have 
commenced your manufacture, if additional 
rains come before you shall have completed 
your heap, of which we shall soon speak, you 
can prevent the liquid so formed from running 
into your vat, either by keeping it back in the 
yard, or by turning it another direction. 
3. In this vat mi.x the following ingredients as 
nearly as you can, without actual measurement 
or weight ; to every barrel ofliquid add 4 lbs. of 
stone lime just slacked, 4 lbs wood ashes good 
quality and dry, or an equivalent ol leached 
ashes, or 1-4 lb. of salt, or its equivalent of 
brine; 2 ozs. saltpetre ; 20 lbs. plaster of Paris, 
or mud, or muck; 10 lbs. of excrements from 
the priv}', or 20 lbs. of horse manure. Mix 
these ingredients thoroughly with the liquid in 
the vat, and if the vat contains one hundi'ed bar- 
rels, increase the above ingredients an hundred 
fold. It would be well to mix these ingredients 
a lew days before you lay up your heap, andstir 
them every day, but this is not essential. 
4. On the upper side of the vat lay the foun- 
dation for the heap, by placing poles or rails, 
with one end to the vat, and the other extending 
from it, about 2 feet apart ; on these lay other 
poles crosswise, (precisely as we do the founda- 
tion for a stack of hay or grain) to keep the 
straw from the ground, and that the liquid may 
flow freely beneath. 
5. Having every thing prepared, commence 
laying up the heap by placing a layer of straw, 
weeds, stalks, or whatever you have at hand, on 
the foundation of poles, to the thickness of a 
foot. You will find great advantage from throw- 
ing the materials as you collect them in the yard 
and letting the cattle tread on them, until they 
are thoroughly wet. When the layer is a foot 
thick, stir up the ingredients in the vat and with 
a pail or other vessel, thoroughly wet the layer 
on the poles. Place another layer on the first, 
and of the same thickness wet as before, and 
thus continue until you have raised the heap as 
high as you wish — say from six to ten feet. Be 
careful at wetting fp stir up the ingredients from 
the bottom of the vat. The easiest and quick- 
est way to wet the several layers, will be to use 
a pump, or elevate, with a hose attached, to 
spread the liquor over the heap. In such a 
case, let one stir, another pump, and a third 
manage the hose. Only be careful, whatever 
method you pursue, to wet the several layers 
thoroughly in all their parts. W hen finished, 
cover the heap with settlings in the bottom of 
the vat, or with anything else at hand — common 
earth will answer. 
6. If the heap consists of strawq weeds and the 
like, it will require wetting every fourth day. If 
you have used much peat, muck, or earth, with 
the straw, water once a week. To water the 
heap, make boles w'ith an iron bar or other in- 
strument in the top of it, from eight to tw^elve in- 
ches apart, and extending downward about to 
the middle; then stir the liquid in the vat, and 
pour it into the holes until the hole is saturated; 
finally close the holes. At every watering 
make new holts. 
Give the heap three waterings when made of 
straw, and it w ill be fit for use in fifteen days 
from the time ot laying it up, when much muck 
or rnud has been added, thirty days. 
When it is desired to manufacture this kind 
of manure in places where barn yardliquidcan- 
not be readily obtained, river, .spring or pond 
wmter, will answmrthe same purposefor wetting 
the heaps as the barn yard liquid, by increasing 
in a small proportion, the ingredients lor the 
mixture, as given in section 3, and adding them 
to it. 
Ratcigh {N. C) Star. 
LIME. 
A gentleman in Virginia said, three years 
ago, that he had taken the Cultivator one year, 
but would never take it again. But why this 
hostility to the Cultivator 7 Is it not the far- 
mer’s friend 7 “ Yes, it had my confidence; it 
recommended the putting of lime on land, and I 
followed the recommendation, and lost fifty dol- 
lars by it. I put on 80 bushels to the acre, and 
it is all lost, wmrse than lost, for it injured the 
land.” 
But what is the sequel of the case before us? 
Why, the lime has had time to be well mixed 
with the soil, has proved itself to be equal to all 
that was claimed for it in the once execrable ar- 
ticle, and the gentleman now thinks he will not 
be fifty dollars the woise but one thousand dol- 
lars the better for taking the Cultivator. It is 
needless to tell you he is now an advocate for 
agricultural papers. 
Permit me here to mention another instance 
of the value of calcareous manure. Major A. 
Stuart, Augusta county, Y'irginia, louryears 
ago, gavm a part of a field a liberal dressing, (the 
quantity per acre I don’t know.) of marl, which 
is abundant on his farm. The first year he no- 
ticed its effects carefully, hoping to see an im- 
provement in the crop, but he was disappointed, 
for the effect he thought was lather injurious; 
and being thus disappointed, he concluded the 
marl was worthless to him, and don’t recollect 
to have noticed any efiect from it the second 
year; but the third year he was called upon by 
such visible tokens ofimprovementin the c’over 
crop, which was on the field, that he could no 
longer be indifferent about the marl. This year, 
the field being in wheat, he found the improve- 
mentstill greater, the ffifference being as three to 
one in favor of the marled portion of the field, 
and this difference being attributable wholly to 
the action of the marl. This soil is a ferrugin- 
ous clay, abounding in lime rock, which, as you 
are aware, is the case with most of the land in 
the valley of Virginia. Is it not a general opin- 
ion, that on limestone land calcareous manures 
are not beneficial 7 
Cultivator, 
Bees. — To prevent the moth laying its eggs, 
under the hive, I have for the last several years 
cut a mortise in the bench about an inch deep 
and about two inches larger than the hive, and 
the hive is then set in this mortise, and the space 
of about one inch all around it is filled with 
mortar, then three-inch auger-holes are bored 
in the hive about two inches from the bench, 
for the egress and ingress of the bees, and a 
small auger-hole through the bottom of the 
bench to let off water, should any get under the 
hive. I have near night watched the moths, at- 
tempting to enter through these holes, and seen 
the bees chasing them away,— PfuTtfer, 
