28 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Drawn from nature, by Mrs. S. H. Bourne, for e The Cultivator .’ 
The above engraving represents the thirty-fifth and thirty- 
/ixth limbs of a stalk of Dr. Cloud^s improved Cotton. The 
£>lant from which the drawing was made, was topped 10th of Ju- 
tfy, and was 6 feet and 4 inches high. Dr. C. informs us that great 
care was taken to make the drawing perfect, and that he has ne 
ver seen a more correct likeness. We tender our thanks to Mrs. 
Bourne and Dr. C., for affording us this opportunity to present 
our readers with a correct drawing of even a part of the Cotton 
plant; and we hope they will hereafter furnish us with a correct 
view of the whole plant, reduced to a size suitable for our paper. 
THE IMPROVED CULTURE OF COTTON.—No. III. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Entertaining 
the profoundest respect and the kindest feelings 
towards the opinions and practices of those plant¬ 
ers who are greatly my seniors in age and in 
agricultural experience, I propose now, in this 
third paper, to engage in discussing <f the prin¬ 
ciples and philosophy of this improvement in 
the culture of Cotton.” I will first remark, di¬ 
rectly, gentlemen, what I have intimated through, 
out this correspondence—that in conducting these 
experiments, and in advocating the claims of this 
improvement, (the leading and meritorious fea¬ 
tures of which belong to your invaluable Cul¬ 
tivator,) I have had no ambition to gratify, 
which is not common to the lover of science and 
agricultural improvement; nor have I any inte¬ 
rests to subserve thereby, which may not be the 
privilege of every planter in the country, how¬ 
ever humble his pretensions or ability. Yet, 
admonished as I have been, by the precipitate 
and unmeasured tirade of vituperation and spleen, 
which my first paper excited among the corps 
editorial of the country, and others of the “ skin- 
ning gentry,” Ihavenoi ventured upon this most 
delicate position, though long promised, without 
again revising carefully and practically, the 
principles and ability of this system. 
In my first paper it will be recollected, I stated 
the grand object which this system of improved 
culture proposes to accomplish for the planting in¬ 
interest of the country, and I also gave there a fair 
and impartial, and a most satisfactory expose of 
that system, (if such it may be styled,) by which 
the cotton plant is at present grown. In my second 
number, I gave in detail, in an equally plain and 
simple manner, the modus operandi by which my 
experiments were conducted; this was no se¬ 
cond hand report, or say-so of another person, 
but in part the work of my own hands, and the 
entire management under my immediate super¬ 
vision. In this paper, I propose giving the why 
and the wherefore , for all this—at least, in my 
humble opinion; and to point out the inconsis¬ 
tent, the reckless and grassy policy of the pre¬ 
sent practices of the country, as compared with 
the systematic, economical and philosophic policy 
of this improvement. 
It is my purpose, gentlemen, first to give you 
a correct sketch of the botanic characteristics of 
the cotton plant, as we meet with it under the 
circumstance of its most favorable culture. I do 
not offer this in the spirit of ostentation, to ap¬ 
pear learned from the technicals used, (the neces¬ 
sary peculiarity of every science.) My object 
is simply to call attention to a subject—too much 
neglected by planters—about which the books 
are carelessly in error; and a proper knowledge 
of which, in my opinion, tends greatly to indi¬ 
cate the best or right mode of culture. 
The botanic name then, of the plant we cul¬ 
tivate, is Gossypium herbaceum; we find it in the 
fifteenth class of the Linnean system, ( Monadel - 
phia,) and in the thirteenth order, ( Polyandria.) 
The first leaves that make their appearance af¬ 
ter the cotyledons, three to six, are ovate, and 
indicate certainly the sucker or branch limbs, 
that will first put out from the stalk. After 
these, we have the cotton leaf proper, three to 
five lobed, and mercronate, with one gland upon 
the mid-rib beneath; these leaves invariably in¬ 
dicate the arm limb, growing out horizontally, 
and articulated, forming at each joint one or 
more balls; coming out with the arm limb, we 
have almost invariably a branch limb, with se¬ 
veral balls—or a stem with one to three balls. 
The stalk is Zign-o-herbaceous and pubescent — 
and in our climate an annual, attaining the height 
of six to ten feet. The period of flowering is from 
10th June to frost; the calix double, the outer one 
