THE IMPROVED CULTURE OF COTTON—No. II. 
Messes. Gayloeb & Tuckee —“ Condition and cir¬ 
cumstances,” says the Cultivator, “ should not control 
us. We should mold them to suit our wills.” A truly 
laconic sentiment this; the grand importance of which I 
have well and long since considered. And though I 
acknowledge to the fullest extent the force and justice 
of such decisive resolve as a governing principle, and 
regard it as the very sino qua wo/t” to certain success, 
in the practical operations of the agriculturist, yet he 
must be a Lacedemonian indeed, over whose stern 
prowess circumstances may not occasionally exercise a 
leeward influence. 
Engagements of an urgent character, and without my 
control, have caused the delay of this number, which, 
with the advanced stage of the season, render it necessa¬ 
ry that I change the order of my original design, as pre¬ 
viously indicated in communicating with you upon “ the 
improved culture of the cotton plant;” and instead of 
giving you the principles and philosophy of the system, 
&c., according to my views of the peculiar characteris¬ 
tics of the plant, imder the various circumstances of soil 
and culture, I propose devoting this paper to “ the de¬ 
tails of the modus operand! by which my experiments 
have been conducted, together with the character and 
quality of the soil, &c.” for the timely convenience of 
those kind friends, and other gentlemen, in the cotton 
region, friendly to agricultural economy and improve¬ 
ment, who may have exercised only faith enough in 
the system, acting wisely, to make the experiment. 
In commending this improvement, gentlemen, to the 
planting interest of the country especially, and previous 
to going into the details of its practical application to 
the culture of cotton, permit me to call the considerate 
attention of your readers in the cotton region by a few 
brief remarks to two very obvious facts that exist, pal¬ 
pably destructive to the best interest of the cotton planter 
• — the direct effect of the present system of culture. In 
the first place, I remark, that under the system of the 
country, the maximum production of cotton, at a ruinous 
cost, has equaled that of its consumption; which is 
generally admitted, I believe, to be the principal cause of 
the low prices of the article, which general admission 
also agrees that such prices pay very little, if any profit, 
upon the immense capital vested in its production. I 
remark, again, upon the disproportionately large amount 
of inferior and poor cotton thus produced, as compared to 
the good, which, upon the authority of both merchant 
and planter, may be safely set down at from three to four 
bags of poor, to one bag of good cotton. This fact, so 
abhorrent to the natural order of all vegetable perfec¬ 
tion, produces a state of feeling and an influence in the 
cotton market prejudicial to the real value of cotton, and 
consequently to the interest of the planter. These are 
plain matters of fact, and must have excited the attention 
of planters in some degree, especially the latter, which I 
suppose to have existed to a very injurious extent for at 
least the last quarter of a centmy. 
To meet both these difficulties, and to convert them in 
a direct reverse ratio, into sources of profit, constitute 
but a part of the advantages which this improvement 
offers to the cotton planting interest of the country. It 
proposes to meet and obviate the former difficulty by 
producing, as previously stated, the present and necessary 
amount of cotton, with but one-third the cost or capital 
now engaged in its production; furnishing thereby to 
the planter a direct and nett profit of over 100 per cent 
upon the present market price. To illustrate and prove 
this position will be a part of the object of another number. 
Again; by subjecting the cotton plant to this system of 
improvement, which favors its natural arborescent 
growth, and the more perfect development of its staple 
and great proflicacy, the latter difficulty is obviated 
and the preponderance changed, as clearly shown by my 
experiments, in favor of an infinitely superior staple: 
thus the planter receives nearly an entire crop of strictly 
prime cotton, upon the influence of which the market 
price becomes established, and its tendency favorable to 
the planting interest. I have not room here to do more, 
at present, than merely to call attention to these facts. 
I now proceed to the immediate object of this number. 
This improvement, when it shall have attained its 
highest state of perfection, contemplates the “system 
of rotation” in planting, under which the land designed 
for cotton lies the previous year in the state of fallow, 
which is found by experience most favorable to the 
growth and fruitfulness of the plant. I commence the 
preparatory operations for planting about the 1st of 
March, by spreading upon the land broadcast two to 
three hundred bushels of manure per acre, —light stock 
yard and stable compost. I then run off the land in 
rows of three feet with a scooter plow, opening a good 
furrow some three to four inches deep; this done, I take 
a large size shovel plow and cross the scooter furrows 
by rows, running at right angles, of five feet wide. I 
am now prepared to commence manuring in the hill, 
having first ascertained that I have 2940 hills on each 
acre, which will require, by giving each hill a half gal¬ 
lon of manure — same kind of compost—184 bushels 
nearly, Avhich I haul on the land in a cart, first graduat¬ 
ed to a certain number of bushels, and with spades like¬ 
wise prepared for the purpose, I deposite the requisite 
quantity of manure in each hill. By this means, which 
in practice will be found simple and expeditious enough, 
I give four to five hundred bushels of manure to each 
acre —an infallible insurance for 5000 lbs. of a superior 
staple per acre. As the manure is placed in the hill by 
rows, the wide way, a short distance in advance, a good 
plow hand follows with a turn plow, which should run 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
into the soil from six to eight inches deep at least, and turn 
well, with which four furrows are thrown together on 
each row: thus fixing the half gallon of manure in each 
hill, entirely within the region of constant moisture. 
This gives me a fine, large bed, and well broke, to lie 
until at or about the first of April, when the cotton seed 
should be planted. This is done by first opening the bed 
as shallow as possible, with some instrument such as that 
described by M. W. Philips, Esq. in the March number 
of the 9th vol. of the Cultivator. This I prefer to any 
other instrument of the kind I have ever yet seen, since 
its depth of furrow may be graduated to a positive cer¬ 
tainty so as to avoid disturbing the manure in the hill; 
it should not be opened out deeper than one inch. The 
bed thus opened, and the seed previously rolled in 
leached ashes or sand,-which answer very well, though 
I prefer a compound of two parts of ashes to one of com¬ 
mon salt, made moist with water; the seed, well rolled 
in this, are carefully dropped over the manure. Eight 
to ten seed in a place will answer to secure a stand. 
There will be no difficulty in dropping the seed over the 
manure in the hill, when it is recollected and observed 
that upon the unbroken space of some two feet between 
each row, the scooter furrows will be found an unerring 
guide to the manure in the bed at distances of three feet. 
The seed thus dropped I prefer to have covered with a 
hoe, lightly and carefully; bearing in mind this golden 
truth, that “a crop well planted is half made.” Imme- 
mediately after planting, the middles or unbroken balks 
should be plowed out. The crop of cotton thus planted, 
which should not exceed three to four acres to the hand, 
may be performed in good time and well done. In a 
few days, say nine to twelve, the cotton will be up, pre¬ 
senting a most healthy and thrifty appearance. The 
next operation to be performed, as early as possibly con¬ 
venient, is to plow out the middles well, the wide way, 
with a good shovel plow, having first run around the 
young plant with a scooter plow. The hoe hands fol¬ 
low and thin the cotton down to two stalks, giving it a 
small quantity of soil. This operation loell done, the 
plant is at once placed beyond all danger, since its tap¬ 
root will now have taken such hold upon the manure 
below as to enable the plant to outstrip either grass or 
weeds, having yet to spring up. 
Under this treatment, the time-consuming and worse 
than useless operations oi bar-shearing, scraping o.nA chop¬ 
ping out, are saved, as much to the benefit of the tender 
plant, as to the interest and economy of the planter, in 
despatching the hurry and push at this stage of the crop; 
and at the conclusion of this first working, I have my 
cotton growing off and doing well. I have now no fur¬ 
ther use for a plow in its s-ubsequent culture, but use the 
sweep ,—a kind of horse-hoe,—I call it a sweep in the 
absence of a more appropriate name, an idea of which, 
may be had from the subjoined figure. 
This instrument is easily made by any blacksmith, by 
laying the wings a. b. and a. c. upon the point of a scoo¬ 
ter d. in the form of an isoseles triangle, which is fastened 
upon the chip of a shovel plow stock, by a heel pin, in 
the same manner you would a shovel. From the tip of 
the wing b. to that of c., it should be 2 feet, forming a 
kind of horse-hoe, by which a row is swept out at 3 fur¬ 
rows. This should be so curved and graduated upon 
the stock as not to go into the soil deeper than 1 inch, and 
as much less as possible, to enable it to cut the young 
grass and weeds that may be springing up. The great 
and singular advantages of the sweep overall instruments 
of the plow, harrow, or hoe kind that I have ever used, are 
these, — ^that it will kill a greater quantity of grass and 
weeds in a given time, and do less injury to the surface 
roots of the plant, so essential to its progressive prosperity. 
The hoe-hands following this instrument, thin the cotton 
to a stand, one stalk in a place, and draw up a small 
quantity of soil to the standing plant. The entire subse¬ 
quent culture is performed with the sweep and hoe, 
which should simply scrape and pulverize the surface, 
so as to kill any grass and weeds that may appear, and 
allow a. free circulation of atmospheric air to the fibrous 
roots of the fruiting stalk, requiring at this critical period 
all the aid and nourishment that culture, soil and atmos¬ 
phere can afford. By the first of July my cotton stands 
from 5 to 6 feet high, and I have it topped by the lOth 
at farthest, after which I run the sweep once more 
through it, and the hoe if necessary, to remove any 
grass, that may have sprung up immediately about the 
stalk. After this, and by this time frequently in places, 
the cotton will become so much interlocked, and the 
ground so shaded, as to keep down all other vegetation 
— yet it may be found necessary again to chop about in 
places with the hoe, when the cotton may not have 
locked so early. This should be invariably attended to. 
This brings us again to the season of harvesting the sta¬ 
ple. 
Let no planter prejudge and reject this system, upon 
the score of simplicity, supposing the process too simple 
to accomplish the objeetproposed; first, act wisely, make 
the experiment, and try it. Strictly follow this plain and 
simple process, and if the land does not reward your 
pains-taking, with_^ne to six fold the quantity per acre, of 
a superior staple, than has at any previous season been 
taken from it, in its natural state, I will present the ex¬ 
perimenter with one bushel of my improved seed, with 
which to perfect the experiment. At another time I 
33 
propose devoting a paragraph to the importance of se¬ 
lecting and improving cotton seed. 
It will be observed that manuring constitutes a large 
item, in this system of improvement, a source of reve¬ 
nue too much underrated by planters, and consequently 
too much neglected, because the subject requires a little 
extra attention—which attention is so essential to the 
prosperity and well-doing of a farm. Nor, gentlemen, 
have I seen- any thing better said, or more true, than I 
find in the sentiment, under the head of “ a few queries,” 
in the last December Cultivator, where you remark, to 
the planter and farmer: “ In your manures is your gold 
mine, more valuable than any of the Carolina ones, and 
you should be anxious to increase them accordingly.” 
But I hear some planters say —“ it is impossible to pro¬ 
duce so much manure”—this is, however, the result of 
inexperience, and the want of determination. I am en¬ 
tirely convinced, from my experience in making manure, 
that it is not only practicable, but a perfectly easy task, 
to prepare upon every plantation in the cotton region, 
great or small, 1500 bushels of an excellent article of 
compost, per annum, to the hand—at a cost of less than 
two cents per bushel—by the assistance of the stock of 
horses, cows and hogs, upon properly arranged lots. 
This is done by having the lots well littered, by throw¬ 
ing in pine straw, in large quantities and frequently, or 
oak leaves, where the pine straw is not to be had, with 
cotton and corn-stalks, &c. and occasionally haul and 
scatter upon the litter, a few loads of muck or marl, one 
or both of which may be found on or near every farm 
in the country; upon these lots, pen and feed your stock 
every night. The manure thus prepared, should be col¬ 
lected in pens or pits, three or four times during the year, 
after heavy falls of rain, and the lots replenished with 
pine straw, &c.—by this means a very large amount of 
manure is collected during the season, and that too, at 
an inappreciable cost. Again, we have another difficul¬ 
ty; there are but few persons who believe that pine 
straw can be converted into manure; for the benefit and 
information of such, who may read this, permit me to 
quote a single sentence from Liebig’s celebrated work 
upon agricultural chemistry: “ The bark and foliage of 
oaks contain from 6 to 9 per cent of potash. The nee¬ 
dles of firs and pines, 8 per cent.” But it is not on account 
of the potash exclusively, that I prefer pine straw to all 
other vegetable matter in the preparation of manure;— 
since it possesses another invaluable quality above all 
others, in absorbing the juices of the manure, which arc 
thus saved from evaporation, and readily applied to the 
land. I doubt not but a single year’s experience will 
convince every intelligent planter of the innumerable 
advantages of this improvement, and its perfect adapta¬ 
tion to the culture of cotton and other crops. 
I will now close this number by a very few remarks upon 
the character and quality of the soil upon which my expe¬ 
riments have been conducted. It is high ridge land, readily 
recognized, and its quality distinctly understood, in our 
southern country, under the name of “forked-leaf, black¬ 
jack, pine-barren,” a deep, porous, sandy, superstratum, 
lying upon a tolerable good clay, at a distance of 2 to 3 
feet below the surface. A true picture to nature, and natu¬ 
rally poor enough. This land, under the treatment 
above detailed, grew my cotton, from which I have 
gathered a greater number of pounds per acre, (indeed 
almost double,) than I have ever seen recorded, is in its 
natural state, inferior to the average quality of cotton 
land, by at least one half. I might refer you, if neces¬ 
sary, to more than one hundred gentlemen, planters 
from Georgia and Alabama, who have examined my ex¬ 
periments carefully, and several of them, at various sta¬ 
ges of its growth, and with one general consent, pro- 
nounbed it a fair test, and a great improvement. I have, 
from several stalks that grew on the three acres, in the 
proper places, taken 3^ to 4lbs of cotton, carefully 
weighed. In the perfection of this improvement, yet in 
a state of great crudeness, when every stalk upon the 
acre, (2,940,) shall mature equally well, what psay I rea¬ 
sonably calculate to gather? 
‘‘ --——Nil desperandum, 
Possunt quia, posse videntur.” 
N. B. Cloud, Jkf. B. 
Planter’s Retreat, Ala. Bee. 26, 1842. 
SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ROLLER. 
Messes. Editoes —One of our farmers, Mr. John A. 
Merselis, uses the following article, instead of a roller, 
with good effect. He takes a slab, or outside cut from a 
log, two or three inches thick, nine inches wide, and 
about seven feet long; a rope is fastened in each end, and 
then by means of the clevis, he fastens his team to the 
middle of the rope. If the driver is a heavy person; he 
uses the fla.t side down next the ground; if he is a light 
person, the round side down; going over the field seve¬ 
ral times, until the ground is sufficiently pulverised; the 
driver standing on it, to keep it in close contact with the 
ground. By rubbing over the ground, it pulverises it 
thoroughly. The past season, I saw two of his fields; 
one planted with corn, on our Mohawk flats, which 
looked like a bed in a garden; the rows of corn could be 
seen across the field, when only an inch or two high. 
The other was upland, clay and slate gravel, soAvn with 
oats, which was equally smooth. I believe when he 
uses it, he does not previously harrow. He invented it 
to cover marrow fat peas, which, by harrowing, he was 
unable to cover. He even uses it to cover his potatoes 
after planting them. Respectfully yours, 
Chaeles H. Tomlinson. 
Schenectady, Bee. 30, 1842. 
