THE CULTIVATOR 
193 
CHINESE MODE OF CULTIVATING COTTON. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —It is only now that I 
have met with Dr. Cloud’s account of his successful cul¬ 
tivation of cotton. It has excited many doubts, but I 
trust what I shall communicate to you will remove some 
of these doubts, and go far to substantiate the opinion of 
the Doctor. Thirty years ago I was myself making an 
experiment in cotton, on Salsett, near Bombay; I wrote 
the following letter at that time, and copy it verbatim 
from my book of notes. The copy of a letter to Mr. 
Brown of Angericandy, Malabar: 
Although the principal part of your estate is a planta¬ 
tion of pepper, I know you attend to the cultivation of 
cotton. As I have been trying this cultivation as practiced 
in China, the success of which I have not the least doubt, 
although the harvest of my crop is not yet made, if cir¬ 
cumstances should prevent your following the same mode, 
you will at least be pleased with the description of it. 
The earth after being very deeply plowed, is made in¬ 
to beds three feet broad and a foot high; mine this year 
are not above six inches high. A small path or gutter 
is left between these beds a foot broad. The seed which 
I used is the common Guzerat, an annual; the botanists 
call it, I believe, Cossipium herbacium. It is put into a 
basket and made to swell, that the best seeds only may 
be selected. Four seeds are put together in one'hole. 
These holes are two feet distant from each other. They 
are manured three times during their growth, and at each 
time well flooded with water. The manure that I used 
was oit cake, made liquid in a tub standing in the corner 
of a field. It is poured in the center of four holes; the 
second time it is poured between two holes, and on the 
the third time when the plant is well grown and on the 
point of flowering, the manure is put to the root. Irri¬ 
gation and manuring is performed in the afternoon. 
When the plant is about to throw out its flowers, about 
an inch of the center root is cut off to make it throw out 
lateral branches. 
As to the season of planting, I think that adopted in 
Guzerat is best. The Chinese were three weeks or a 
month later; they did not plant until the month of Sep¬ 
tember. I wish I could inform you correctly as to the 
produce, but I can only judge from the appearance of the 
plant, that the returns of this kind of cultivation under 
ordinary circumstances, will not be very short of what 
the Chinese say it is. The Chinese measure of ground 
is as near as can be, half an English acre. This is said 
by them to produce one thousand pounds of cotton, free of 
seed. If after all my experiment should not afford this 
amount, I should not be discoui’aged, as there are many 
circumstances attending this experiment unfavorable. 
The seed is not so good as that of China; the season was 
unfavorable, the Chinese being misled by the difference 
between this climate and that of their own country; the 
soil was not properly worked, and lastly our beds were 
by no rneans^sufficiently raised. 
I dare say you will be astonished at this amount of 
produce, but really there is hardly any limit to the re¬ 
turns of agriculture when the soil is skilfully cultivated 
and highly manured. The difference in the cultivation 
of sugar cane which is well watered and manured, and 
that cultivated as it comrnonly is in the West Indies, is at 
least six times. The Chinese say their seed is much lar¬ 
ger than that which I provided them with, but this is 
merely the effect of cultivation. You may perhaps know 
that the cotton which the Chinese cultivate, sells as high 
as seventeen Taels a Picue, (a shilling a pound.) 
We were somewhat embarrassed about the proper 
soil; the deepest is of course the best—even such valleys 
as are proper for rice. They of course require to be 
well drained, which the Chinese understand incompara¬ 
bly. Their main drains are separated from each other 
fifty feet, and the gutters between the beds make the soil 
perfectly dry, even during the torrents of the monsoon. 
Our land of this description being infested with crabs, 
obliged us to seek a more elevated spot. The plants are 
watered every ten or fifteen days, and the manure is two 
tons to an English acre. I have mentioned above that 
the seeds of the cotton are put into a basket to swell; for 
this purpose they use warm water, and as soon as the ra¬ 
dical makes its appearance the seeds are deposited in the 
earth and a little ashes put over them. 
Stockbridge, Mass,, Nov. 1, 1843. L. Ashburner. 
INQUIRIES ABOUT VIRGINIA. 
We hope some of our friends in Virginia, will furnish 
us with answers to the annexed queries: 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —A number of persons, 
(and many of them your subscribers,) residing in Orange 
county, state of New-York, have had their minds turned 
towards Virginia, to settle as farmers, in consequence of 
the cheapness of the land and the healthiness of the cli¬ 
mate, and they wish information from some of your sub¬ 
scribers in that state, as to the price of good land? 
What section of the country is most desirable? 
How they are situated for schools and churches? 
Would it be worth while .to take farming tools, cows, 
oxen, horses, hogs, wagons and furniture? 
Many farmers from Westchester and Dutchess coun¬ 
ties in this state, have removed to Virginia within a few 
years, and these gentlemen can give us the very infor¬ 
mation we want, and we hope some of them will take 
the trouble to answer us through your columns. 
Nov. 22, 1843. Orange County. 
The true .springs of action sometimes lie hidden from 
a man’s own view. 
Hovey’s Straw Cutter. — (Fig. 99.) 
IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY_No. 4.* 
It was only about ten or twelve years ago that the 
farmers first seriously directed their attention to the eco¬ 
nomy of cutting hay and straw for their stock; and if 
there was any one reason more than another that pre¬ 
vented the adoption, it was the slow and tedious opera¬ 
tion, and the insufficiency of the machines then in use. 
To be sure there was Safford’s machine, with two knives 
on the arms of the balance wheel, which was a great 
improvement on the old fashioned Dutch “Jug box;” 
but still the labor was great, and the operation not so 
speedy as desired. After this period. Green’s machine 
was invented, and the writer claims the credit, if there 
is any, of introducing it to the public; since which, they 
have found their way into every state in the Union, Ca¬ 
nada, Scotland and England. 
A description of one of these machines was sent, in 
1837, from Canada to the secretary of the Highland Ag- 
ricultm-al Society in Scotland, and called the Canadian 
Chaff-cutter,” by Mr. Fergusson, who pronounced it 
“ the easiest and most efficient cutter he ever met with 
—a first rate machine.” The communication was laid 
before the committee on machinery, who, after making 
a machine according to the description, and sufficiently 
testing its powers, reported that they found “ it to bear 
out all that was said of it by Mr. Fergusson;” that ‘'it 
is ascertained that it will cut three times more than the 
best of the common sort, and with less force;’’ and that 
“ one person driving the machine wilt cut with ease five 
huntired weight of hay or straw in an hour.” This was 
a high compliment to our ingenious countryman, Mr. 
Green, but a deserving one. The notice, with a picto¬ 
rial representation of the machine, was published in the 
Society’s papers. 
In the December number of the Farmer’s Magazine, 
published in London, I find the following notice of this 
machine, taken from the report of the exhibition of im¬ 
plements at the meeting in July, 1842, and published in 
the Journul of the Royal Agricultural Society: 
“A premium of j£3 was adjudged to Mr. James Rich¬ 
mond of Salford, for a small chaff engine, of a novel and 
peculiar kind, patented by Mr. North, an American. 
The action of this machine is perfectly continuous, the 
cut being produced by the pressure of straight edged 
knives, fixed at equal distances asunder, on a bottom 
roller, in the direction of its length, and working against 
an upper roller composed of a mixture of lead and zinc, 
between which the straw or hay is drawn in a regular 
stream. In principle, this machine may be considered 
to be diametrically opposed to that which has hitherto 
guided mechanics in the construction of chaff cutters; 
but as it appeared to be worked with remarkable ease, 
and to cut with a cleanness never yet excelled, or per¬ 
haps equalled, it was deemed to be entitled to reward, 
and to the favorable notice of the Society. At present, 
the maker seems to have limited the dimensions of the 
machine to suit the demantis of small consumers; ex¬ 
perience will determine whether the same principle can 
be extended to meet the wants of the large farmer, and 
whether, in respect to durabilit}^, it equals the better 
known machines.” 
The great demand and rapid sales of these machines 
in this country, have aroused the mighty genius of our 
countrymen, and their powers have been tasked to su¬ 
persede it; and so far, with the exception of Hovey’s, 
which I think is an improvement on Green’s, no imple¬ 
ment has yet been invented that will cut hay and straw 
as fast, with the same ease and power. Hovey’s, which 
carried the Society’s first premium at the Fair held in 
September last at Albany, competing with fifteen differ¬ 
ent machines, among whieh was Green’s, differs from 
the former in having the knives set spirally in the cy- 
lynder, which cuts equally and continuously, and only a 
part of the knife in operation, thereby lessening the 
power and strain of the machine. The writer has one 
of these machines in use, and can speak from experi¬ 
ence. 
The machine exhibited by Messrs. Botts & Eurfoot of 
Richmond, Va., at the Fair, has claims which should 
not be overlooked, and appears to be a machine long 
sought for, viz: that will cut hay, straw and cornstalks. 
It received some damage in the passage, and was not in 
good order when exhibited, or the committee might 
have placed it among' the first. The best and most sub- 
* This communication, received at the time of its date, Was 
was mislaid, which has delayed its insertion till this time. 
Cylindrical Straw Cutter, — (Fig. 100.) 
Manufactured by R. Sinclair, Jr. & Co., Baltimore. 
The prices of this machine are as follows: 20 inch cy¬ 
linder, for horse or steam power, capable of cutting 
1,500 or 2,000 bushels per day, $75. 14 inch, for ma¬ 
nual or horse power, $45. 11 inch, for manual power, 
$30. 
stantial evidence of the estimation in which it is held, 
is the fact, that the proprietors say they ‘‘ have sold up¬ 
wards of a thousand dollas worth of our straw cutters in 
the northern market, notwithstanding the hard times, 
since the first of October.” A few of these machines 
are on sale at the agricultural store of G. Freeborn, 
Front-street, New-York. 
The next machines deserving notice, which were exhi¬ 
bited at the Fair in September last, were those exhibited 
by Messrs. R. Sinclair, Jr. & Co. of Baltimore, for horse 
power. These machines have been long in use at the 
south, and stand very high, as a strong and powerful 
machine. The writer purchased one of them and sent 
to a friend in South Carolina, who was well pleased and 
speaks in high commendation of it. 
The other machines exhibited, some of which were 
specimens of great ingenuity and superior workman¬ 
ship, for which the inventors deserve great credit, and it 
is hoped they will receive their reward in the great sales 
of their implements. C. N. Bement. 
Thiee Hills Farm, March, 1843. 
HASTY REMARKS 
On the Geography of Plants and Birds—on Rearing Poul¬ 
try-Use made of Turkies by Tobacco Planters—Making 
Capons, ^e. 4'C., suggested by the last no. of the Culti¬ 
vator. 
I DO not know how far it is true that “the cultivated 
plants yield the greatest products near the northernmost 
limit in which they will grow,” but the question does, 
as you say, “ atford an interesting topic for discussion in 
journals devoted to agriculture and natural science.” 
In genei'al, the latitude of states lying south of the 
Delaware is considered most congenial to the growth of 
the Indian corn, yet we have accounts of very heavy 
crops in a greater number of instances, in corn-buying 
New-England than in the states south of the line above 
designated. This may, and no doubt does, in a measure 
result from the more minute attention and painstaking 
habit of the New-Englander— more manure and better 
tillage. According to my observation, the peach region 
of the United States lies between Virginia and the north 
side of New-Jersey, say on the tide waters of the Che¬ 
sapeake and the Delaware, and we find it growing most 
abundantly now in the state of Delaware, almost its 
northernmost limit, as a crop. But what I was going to 
observe is the remarkable fact in birrf-ology, analagous 
to the one assumed as true in vegetable physiology, that 
the mocking bird, unequalled for his powers of song by 
any other of the feathered creation, is not met with, that 
I am aw’are of, in any numbers many miles north of the 
Delaware river. It is considered a southern bird, yet I 
have never seen as many congregated in such a narrow 
space any where south of it, as exactly on the Delaware, 
“ his northernmost limit.” Who that can carry back his 
remembrance to by-gone times, when we traveled across 
the isthmus from Frenchtown to Newcastle, taking three 
to four hours to go the twelve or fourteen miles, and 
arriving suffocated with dust and overcome with weari¬ 
ness—who of these does not remember the thorn hedges, 
redolent of the music of this noble bird, as we used to 
drive into Newcastle between daylight and sunrise? 
The thorn bushes appeared to be alive with them, as if 
cliaunting a valedictory to the traveler as he passed the 
confines of their abiding. I never saw as many any 
where else as about Newcastle and Salem, on the Dela- 
