ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Southera Cultivator. 
PREPARING COTTON FOR MARKET. 
Mr. Editor — In the first No. of the present 
volume of the Cultivator, I promised you that I 
would, at a suitable time, give my brother far- 
mers, through the columns of your agricultural 
paper, my system of preparing my cotton for 
market. Being this lar on my way home from 
the West, where I have spent the summer on 
an agricultural tour, I now comply with my 
promise of giving my plan of putting up my cot- 
ton, and I must firs^ say that it wi'l be found ex- 
tremely difficult for the cotton planter to prepare 
the great Southern staple as it should be done, 
while he is all the time going for quantity, and 
not for quality; but still he may, however large 
his croj) may be, prepare a portion of it as it 
should be, if he will take the necessary trouble 
and pains. 
But lo the point. I take all the care I possi- 
bly can in picking it out of the field, endeavor- 
ing to keep up with the opening as near as pos- 
sible, taking all the pains I can to pick it clear 
of trash; I then dry it thoroughly on a scaffold, 
keeping one hand picking it over while ihe cot- 
ton is drying; I then pack it away cleanly in 
bulk, and suffer it to remain until it becomes 
heated. My finest cotton last year remained in 
bulk about two months— this year I think of let- 
ting it remain three months in bulk. After it 
has remained long enough for the oil to be 
drawn from the seed into the staple, to give it 
that beautiful creanl color so much admired. I 
then commence ginning. I gin it very slowly 
on a fine saw-gin, picking it over again as it is 
ginned, so as to get out any remaining trash 
that may be in it. 1 have a flue that is fixed to 
the gin, through which the cotton pas.ses, aftei 
leaving the brush. The flue is eight feet long, 
and is so constructed as to let all the din and 
trash drop in a box below, as the cotton passes 
over the fingers of the flue : the cotton passes 
from the flue into the coi^n-room. 1 never suf- 
fer much to be packed in the r )om before I com- 
mence putting it in bales ; this is done with the 
'greatest care. I press it (^wn with a screw, in- 
stead of treading it with feet, as every pressure 
defaces the cotton to some extent. My bales 
weigh about 480 lbs. I sew up my packages 
very nicely, and put up my cotton in the best of 
bagging. 
Now, I request the farmers, before they con- 
demn my plan as too tedious, to make the trial, 
and they will find it a money-making business. 
I would, however, slate, that I make three quali- 
ties of cotton: ray first and second qualities, I 
plainly put my name on, and the place of my 
residence, the third quality I pul the letter M on. 
I would have waited until I reached Eufaula, 
Ala., before I wwote, but presuming that some 
of the growers of cotton might desire to try my 
plan, and as the season was passing away, I 
determined to write from this place. At a fu- 
ture time, I will give you some account of my 
trip to the West. 
With the greatest respect, yours, &c., 
Alexander McDonald. 
For the So'.ilherii Cultivator. 
A SHORT CHAPTER OF EXPERIENCE. 
Transplanting Pearh and Apple Trees ; Smut in Wheal 
— how prevented; Rust; Charcoal; Coal-tar and 
Sonl; 'i'ar and .Sand ; Lime will kill Wheat; What 
is the best Method of Improving Fresh Lands 7 
Mr. Editor — Some time since, 1 saw it an- 
nounced in your paper, that it was a good me- 
thod, to keep worms from the roots of peach 
trees, to put half a gallon (if I remember cor- 
rectly) of ashes around the roots when transplant- 
ed, and a less quantity every spring thereafter 
upon the ground around the tree. 
Last spring, 1 had a quantity of peach and ap- 
ple trees set out, after the common mode, of 
which three of the former died. Some short 
time afterwards, 1 had a lew peach trees of a 
rare varietv, and some few apple trees, to set. 
As I prized them highly, after placing the tree 
in the excavation made for its reception, I de- 
posited perhaps one gallon of ashes around the 
roots, then a layer of diit, then a quantity of wa- 
ter, then filled the hole with ashes and dirt, and 
applied more water. The result was — every 
peach tree died; and but one apple tree looks 
like doing well, while one or two more are show- 
I ing only a faint prospect ot ever budding again. 
I You will perceive I used more ashes than wms 
1 recommended, which shows the importance of 
j one’s going by the directions, as prescribed to 
him, in following out an experiment. 
Two years since, I rented a piece of land to 
sow in wheat, which was cut and thrashed 
while wet. It was pronounced, by all who saw 
it, to be The blackest they had ever seen. This 
I had washed well, but could get no white flour. 
Several writers in your paper recommended 
blue-stone as a prevemive — no one of them, I 
believe, gave the relative portions of each, and 
the length of time the wheat should be soaked. 
One said one pound of blue-stone to five bushels 
wheat — anolhersaid neitherblue-stone norbrine 
was a prevemive, but the wheat should be soak- 
ed in both of them — a third said, if kept in a cool 
place it would keep two or three days. I there- 
fore made a solution of salt, (it should be made 
strong to bear up the light wheat and all the oats 
w hich may be in it,) poured slowly into it o.ne 
bushel of wheat, frequently stirringit, and skim- 
ming off everything that would swim, and let it 
soak six hours. I then put the wheat into an- 
other tub, poured in nearly water enough to co- 
ver the wheat, then emptied in a solution com- 
posed of three or four ounces of blue stone, 
which had been di.ssolved in warm water, stir- 
red it up well, and let it set twelve hours. 1 
used the same brine by adding a little more salt 
and water, and the same solution of blue-stone 
by adding three ounces more blue-stone, for eve- 
ry bushel of wheat sowm. I also rubbed the 
wheat in ashes before sowing it. I often exam- 
ined it, and only lound one head ol stnut in ten 
or twelve acres. 
Ifitbesaid the dark nights in October kept 
out the smut, I here add, that I sowed in the 
same field, and on the same day I finished the 
other, a half a pint of the prettiest and the whi- 
test-looking wheat I had ever seen — which pro- 
duced about a hundred heads of smut, because I 
did not soak it. 
In thinking on this subject, I have thought 
the wheat should be soaked in blue-stone first, 
as a considerable quantity of salt adheres to the 
grains, which, if sown, w'onld probably add to 
the fertilizing properties of the earth. 
There is another difficulty — the rust. Some 
writers say the French have prevented this dis- 
ease by using powdered charcoal -yet none of 
them, whose productions I have noticed, state 
the quantity the French use for that purpose. — 
As we have no machines for that purpose, would 
it do to dampen the coal, and beat it up in a 
large trough '? 
The Agricultural Society of South Carolina, 
in their report of 19th June, state, “We would 
recommend, in the highest terms, the use of the 
coal-tar to preserve the seeds from birds.” Nor 
have they stated the relative quantities of each, 
coal-tar, soot and corn. 
Some five years since, tar and sand were re- 
commended to me for the same purpose. I then 
prepared my tar, sand and corn, and planted ten 
acres, not one grain of which have I seen since. 
This also reminds me of a gentleman in Mon- 
roe county, Ga., who prepared his wheat in 
lime, and sowed forty acres, none of v.'hich ever 
came up. Persons who recommend a new pro- 
ject, should also give the proportions, time and 
manner, of carrying out their views. 
There is one questio.u I wish lo propose to 
some of your correspondents. I am now mak- 
ing my fourth crop on gray land, with a clay 
foundation near fhe surface, with a few rocky 
spots, though they are small. What method 
shall I adopt to improve the land to the greatest 
advantage with the least expense? Would it 
do to sow down ia rye, corn, buckwheat, or 
peas, and turn the green crop under ? If so, 
at wffiat time of the year, and what kind of a 
plow ? Yours, &c., P. 
Salem, Russell county, Ala. 
