THE CULTIVATOR. 
125 
in alter culture—enabling you to plough nearer, and 
thin out with much more regularity and exactness.— 
After the seed is sown in the drill it is sometimes (in 
very stiff lands,) covered with a small harrow; but 
when the soil is light and will permit it, a plough si¬ 
milar to the one above described, without the longi¬ 
tudinal piece at bottom, answers very well the pur¬ 
pose. The best time for planting will much depend 
upon the land and season. The usual time in South 
Carolina, is from the first to the tenth of April. Far¬ 
ther south they plant a little earlier. 
Question 4. What tillage must precede and succeed 
the planting ? can two crops be made in a season ? 
Answer. It is necessary that the land should be 
well pulverized, and the bed of an even and uniform 
height. The distance between the rows and height 
of the bed, will depend entirely upon the fertility of 
the soil and its location. For some, three feet dis¬ 
tance is sufficient; and in others, six is not too much. 
In the drill it may be crowded very thick, say from 
six to eighteen inches—but it is indispensably neces¬ 
sary to give it sufficient space the other way—light 
and air being all-essential in every stage of its 
growth. When the cotton is fully up to what is 
called a stand, a hoe from six to ten inches in width, 
(the size depending on fertility of soil) is passed 
through it, leaving three or four stalks at a place. 
This chopping out as it is termed, is immediately pre¬ 
ceded or succeeded with the plough. This plough¬ 
ing is not a deep one—it is chiefly intended to stir 
the land a little, and throw whatever young grass 
may have come up on the beds into the furrow, there¬ 
by lessening the work of the foe very much. The 
next working with the hoe, is an exceedingly impor¬ 
tant one. It takes a very skillful and experienced 
hand, to do an hundred rows, an acre in length, as it 
should be. The bringing it down to the permanent 
stand is tedious ; and very much so if it should be a 
little grassy, (as it is but too apt to be at this stage.) 
The plough immediately follows and dirts the cotton, 
cleaning out the entire space between the rows, 
leaving it in beautiful order and appearance; the 
plant now having four leaves. This routine is con¬ 
tinued throughout the whole season. The culture 
should be continued (at least with the hoe) until the 
middle of August; it is sometimes necessary to ex¬ 
tend it even beyond that period, when the spring is 
very backward, and the fall very wet. The kind of 
plough used is of cheap and simple construction. Our 
own blacksmiths and carpenters are usually the ma¬ 
nufacturers. Two crops cannot be obtained in a 
season ; for I believe there is no portion of the vast 
cotton growing region, from the Sabine to its utmost 
northern limits, in which it is not occasionally cut 
short by the frost. 
Question 5. When and houi should it be gathered, 
and how can it be most expeditiously cleaned, pressed 
and prepared for manufacture or exportation ? 
Answer. It should be gathered so soon as it com¬ 
mences opening; and with the hand. The labor of 
gathering and preparing a full crop for market, is 
nearly equal to its culture. Surely not so heavy, but 
tedious ; and nothing can be done at it in wet wea¬ 
ther. The season too is not congenial to the disposi¬ 
tion of the negro; he is sad and spiritless at a tem¬ 
perature that you would feel but comfortable—whilst 
his most joyous peals of laughter would be heard un¬ 
der the scorching rays of a meridian sun. It is clean¬ 
ed with a gin, (Whitney’s invention) cheaply and ex¬ 
peditiously, either by water or horse power, from 
1000 to 1500 pounds of clean cotton per day; and 
then packed with a heavy wooden or iron screw ; and 
so it leaves the planter’s hands. 
Question 6. What is the fair average yield; the cost 
of culture, of bagging, of machinery, <$-c. the nett pro¬ 
fit per acre ? A numerical statement is desirable. 
Answer. This question I cannot so fully answer as 
your correspondent desires. It would be difficult to 
graduate so many items of expense to a single acre— 
and ascertain its nett profits. The following state¬ 
ment however, is not far from the truth ; it is at least 
a safe one. 
Average yield per acre (clean cotton,) 150 pounds : 
cost of culture, $6: cost of machinery, 12 pounds 
of cotton : cost of bagging, rope and twine, 75 cents. 
Nett profits can be ascertained from price of cotton. 
Question 7. To wliat diseases is the cotton of our 
country liable, and how may they best be remedied? 
Answer. The diseases to which our cotton is most 
liable, are the rust and rot, for which we have found 
no remedy. The rust attacks the leaves, and causes 
them to shed off. The rot, the bowls, and effects 
them as its name indicates. There are various and 
conflicting opinions as to the causes of these diseas¬ 
es, which are useless to enumerate, as I believe they 
are not understood. 
I have thus attempted briefly to answer the queries 
of your correspondent, which may appear unsatisfac¬ 
tory. But sir, if you have any idea how little of sci¬ 
ence or of skill is used in perfecting a cotton crop, 
you will agree with me that but little can be said 
about it, except in the way of pointing out its abuses, 
and suggesting remedies for its improvement. There 
never was a wider field for agricultural science to ex¬ 
ert its beneficent effects, than on the cotton growing 
states of the south. With a soil fertile in the ex¬ 
treme—and operatives the most cheap and efficient 
in the world—commanding a staple which gives vi¬ 
tality and existence to industry in a thousand forms 
—in almost every portion of the universe—they have 
scarce as yet progressed one step towards improve¬ 
ment. The land is tilled as if its sources of fertility 
were inexhaustible, and with the most prodigal waste 
of the choicest and richest blessings, that an all-wise 
and beneficent Providence could confer. The sys¬ 
tem (if the term can be applied) is a most suicidal, 
and ruinous one ; it is exhaustion—exhaustion—con¬ 
tinual exhaustion, without any return. If you should 
meet with an exception, as (you sometimes would) 
it but shows in more glaring colours the prevailing 
practice. To sow a rich field in January or February 
with oats, reap them the first of July, and plant down 
in corn, I have known to be done by those who were 
esteemed good planters. To plant the same field in 
cotton or corn for years in succession, is very com¬ 
mon, and that too without one load of manure. And 
if it should be changed it is not for the better. If it 
will bring any thing at all, it will never do to let it 
lay out,—and so it is thickly sown in oats ; after be¬ 
ing reaped clean, (the temptation cannot be resisted) 
all the hogs, horses and cattle must be turned upon 
it, producing the most injurious effects. This is 
sometimes called resting land. What, sir, do you think 
of it 7 I mean always to be understood as speaking of 
the prevailing custom. There may be found (as I 
have before observed,) a few honorable exceptions in 
every district of country, and if I am informed cor¬ 
rectly, the farther south the fewer. No excuse can 
extenuate so wretched a system ; its parallel is not to 
be found in any age or country. We need not be 
told of the energy and enterprise which stimulates a 
young and vigorous people—that the age is one of 
rapid and incalculable progress—that its spirit is not 
to be checked or stifled by the cold and formal rules 
of science and system. But it is here we can trace 
the source of the very worst system of agriculture 
that can be imagined. It is to this headlong energy 
and enterprise, strengthened and quickened by the 
insatiable desire of gain, which is laying waste, as 
with the hand of the destroyer, the entire cotton 
growino- region. Yours respectfully, 
A COTTON PLANTER. 
On the Gearing for Working Oxen. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—In perusing the April 
number of the Cultivator, which came to hand but 
yesterday, I was greatly pleased with a communica¬ 
tion, made by Mr. David Allison, on the subject of 
“ Yokes for Oxen.” 
Although, within the last twenty or thirty years, 
some improvements have been made in the gear and 
harness of working animals, especially in those for 
horses, yet it is believed that some may even yet be 
made, and particularly in those for oxen, 
Humanity, as well as self-interest, would induce a 
desire in every rational owner of laboring beasts, 
to make their working gear in such form, and of such 
materials, as would be most convenient for the animal, 
the most accommodating to the form of his body and 
natural motions, and attached to him in such a man¬ 
ner as to enable him to exert his strength to the best 
possible advantage of his master, and the least irk¬ 
some to himself. 
As to the ox, the author of nature seems to have 
placed the seat of his strength in his head and neck. 
To these parts, therefore, reason dictates the pro¬ 
priety of attaching his working gear. The question 
then arises, of what materials, and of what form, shall 
this gear be constructed, and in what manner attach¬ 
ed to him 7 
In our country, the uniform gear or harness of this 
useful animal has been, and yet is, the yoke and the bow. 
In remarking upon a usage so long practised by our 
fathers and grand-fathers, I would speak with diffi¬ 
dence, while suggesting reasons for my objections to 
this mode. Where, I ask, can be found an experi¬ 
enced farmer, whose better feelings have not been 
pained, by seeing the galled and swollen neck of his 
patient ox, occasioned by the chafing and pressure of 
the yoke and bow ? And how frequently bloated by 
the obstruction of his breath, caused by the same 
pressure ! If the feelings of the master, on such occa¬ 
sions, are pained, how great must be the sufferings of 
the poor animal, while compelled to press his neck, 
swollen and sore with raw cracks in his skin and 
flesh, against his wooden yoke 7 The peculiar form of 
the neck of the ox is such, that it is impossible to 
construct a gear of wood, or of any other rigid mate¬ 
rial, which shall come in contact with, and bear 
equally upon, every part of the neck. The perusal 
of the well written and interesting communication of 
your correspondent, Mr. Allison, has induced and em¬ 
boldened me, to offer you this article. He closes by 
observing—“ I have heard that there are modes of 
bringing the draft on the head instead of the shoul¬ 
ders, practised in the Spanish provinces, the particu¬ 
lars of which I should gladly become acquainted 
with.” 
I take much pleasure in stating what I learned on 
this subject while residing in Spain, nearly two 
months, in 1828. I embraced every opportunity af¬ 
forded me to become acquainted with whatever came 
in my way relating to the agriculture of that kingdom. 
As the uniform mode of their harnessing or gearing 
their working oxen was new to me, I took more par¬ 
ticular notice of it, and examined it more critically. 
I had many opportunities for seeing their oxen work, 
as well with loaded carts on the roads, as at the 
plough in the fields. Upon the whole I could not re¬ 
sist the conviction that the Spanish method of har¬ 
nessing their working oxen, is, in all respects, prefe¬ 
rable to that which is practised in our country. I 
will endeavor to describe it, and suggest such reasons 
as operated with me in support of my opinion. 
The draught is wholly by the head, to which the 
gearing is attached. The yoke for a pair of oxen 
differs but little in its length, thickness and form, 
from that in use with us. No bows, ring-staple or 
ring are connected with it. The curves of the yoke, 
where it rests upon the necks of the oxen, are some¬ 
what deeper, perhaps, than those of ours. On the 
front side of the yoke, two square staples of iron are 
placed for each ox, eight or ten inches apart from 
each other, corresponding in point of distance from 
the end of the yoke and from each other, with the 
location of our bow-holes. To the inner staple for 
each ox, a band of strong leather is made fast by 
stitching. This band is sufficiently broad to fill the 
space between the swell of the eyes and the but ends 
of the horns, and is brought round the front part of 
the head and fastened by a buckle connected with the 
outer staple. In some instances this band is lined by 
another piece of leather, with a thin padding, quilted 
in between the two pieces, in order to render it more 
pleasant and easy to the head—though I never saw 
any appearance of chafing or other injury done to the 
head by the band. The yoking and unyoking are 
performed with great facility and expedition—it is 
only to buckle or unbuckle one end of a single strap 
for each ox. 
By this mode of gearing it will be seen that the ap¬ 
plication of the power of the ox, exerted in the draught 
of the load, is at the head. As it respects the ad¬ 
vantage or disadvantage of holding back on descend¬ 
ing ground, I am unable to perceive any essential dif¬ 
ference between the two modes, as the holding back 
in both must be done by (he yoke coming in contact 
with the horns, and without any aid from the bows. 
In conversation with a Spanish gentleman on this 
subject, he remarked, “ By harnessing oxen in your 
method, and making them draw by their shoulders , 
you loose much of the strength of their heads and 
necks, parts wherein their strength principally lies. 
Our ancestors in this country,” continued he, “ took 
their first ideas about the mode of gearing their oxen 
for labor, from seeing the uniform manner in which 
bulls meet each other and fight.” 
Nature has instinctively taught animals where their 
strength lies, as well as the best manner of using it 
in contending with others, either offensively or de¬ 
fensively. The bull presents bis head to his antago¬ 
nist—the horse his heels, and the tiger his teeth. 
The facts and reasoning of Mr. Allison are worthy 
of the careful attention of every former in the U. S.— 
they are practical. The use of the single jmke de¬ 
scribed by him, and the manifest advantages attend¬ 
ing it, must, I think, commend itself to every one. 
But, with due deference, I would submit to his con¬ 
sideration, whether the Spanish head-band instead of 
the bow, might not be an improvement 7 
Very respectfully yours. 
SAMUEL WOODRUFF. 
Windsor, Conn. August ll//i, 1838. 
Household Economy. 
Schenectady, July 27, 1838. 
Dear Sir —Your Cultivator is particularly designed 
to promote improvements in husbandry. I presume 
you are equally desirous to aid housewifery. 
We often hear lamentations of the loss of fat saved 
for making soap, by its being in an offensive and 
spoiled condition, and eaten by maggots—sometimes 
of the loss of the fat eaten by rats. None of these 
happen about my house ; nor is the fat boiled in ley 
to make soft soap. 
The fat, as it is saved, is put into a cask prepared, 
and strong ley added to it. As the fat increases, ley 
is added, and occasionally stirred by a stick kept in 
it. When the cask is full, the soap is made and rea¬ 
dy for use. 
The ley cask is filled with ashes for leeching, and 
drawn off to add to the soap cask, as stated above. 
When the ley has been drawn off, and by filling with 
