THE CULTIVATOR. 
29 
three-cleft; capsule, 3 to 5 celled, with 7 to 9 seeds in a 
cell, involved in the staple. Early in the morning the 
milk white* bloom may be seen, in the form of a conic 
scroll, emerging from the fringe work of its outer calix; 
and with the rising sun it unfolds the segments of its 
petal, and by one hour by sun we behold the full blown 
bell-formed flower. Thus, blooming white, it remains 
till 12 o’clock, when within 15 minutes thereafter, we 
may observe by the naked eye, a faint ray of pink skirt¬ 
ing the thin margins of the segments, which pink color 
may be seen by one to two o’clock, to have diffused it¬ 
self throughout the bloom. It thus continues changing 
from white to red, till sun up the next morning, when 
it will be found a beautiful brilliant pink; now with the 
rising sun it gradually wilts, and by 12 o’clock it drops 
off, leaving a distinctly formed ball, securely sheltered 
by its calix. 
This description, which is strictly correct, differs in 
several of its particulars from Eaton’s, and from the 
miserably erroneous engraving and description of the 
same, to be found at page 307 of “Sears’ Wonders of 
the World;” and yet strange to say, this same engraving, 
with probably but a single correct feature, is copied into 
the “ American Agriculturist,” in illustration of an ar¬ 
ticle by Dr. Philips. I might point out a half dozen er¬ 
rors in that engraving; it will answer my present pur¬ 
pose however, that I detain you with but two or three 
such notices. You will first observe the bloom and the 
description given, and you will agree with me at once, 
that Mr. Sears has been bugged by an okra flower; the 
cotton bloom in its healthy state, is never so much flared, 
nor has it any red spots in the bottom. Observe again 
to the left, that young ball with its drooping calix ; that is 
altogether unnatural, and is never seen except where the 
worm is or has been. You will observe the same error 
m the opening ball; every little boy, who has picked 
but fifty pounds of cotton, will tell you if that were the 
fact, there would be no trashy cotton. I am sure Dr. 
Philips has detected these blunders, with others equally 
evident. This I suppose will be considered a small mat¬ 
ter, about which nobody is at fault; because even intel¬ 
ligent planters have never thought it worth while to give 
a correct description of the cotton plant. This same 
carelessness is observed, when we cast our eyes upon the 
large map of Alabama; we there see a most imposing 
engraving of a large fancy plant, with its one hundred 
and one errors, if called a cotton plant. Observe again, 
the beautiful and chaste vignette of our own excellent 
and cherished Southern Cultivator', we see there an en¬ 
graving designed for the cotton plant, yet I am sure if the 
pendent open balls were painted red, you would sooner 
take it for a pomegrante bush! 
To the planter who is satisfied merely to plod along 
the inanimate imitator of some skinning neighbor, this 
sketch will appear a tedious and uninteresting detail. I 
am convinced, however, of its importance,—and there is 
a spirit of improvement abroad in the land, which re¬ 
quires just such detail of fact; because it is not possible, at 
least it is extremely improbable, that we succeed in im¬ 
proving and perfecting the culture of any article of ve¬ 
getation until we make ourselves well acquainted with 
its natural characteristics. Hence I remark, that when 
we look upon the stately pyramidal appearance of an 
improved cotton stalk, grown under favorable circum¬ 
stances, we observe at once—indeed, we are forcibly 
struck with the distance proper in its arrangement upon 
the soil, which is so clearly indicated. Again, we ob¬ 
serve an uncommonly large amount of foliage for an 
annual, besides some 3 to 4 lbs. of seed cotton upon the 
stalk—literally crowded from its base, upon an area of 
some 15 to 20 square feet, to its aoex, at the height of 6 
feet. Now m view of t'nese clearly established facts, the 
invariable effect of certain well defined causes, I shall 
not suppose any' planter so dull as not to know what course 
to pursue, if he find that it require a given amount of 
grain to grow a pig to a given size in one year, that to 
produce another such pig the next season, the necessary 
amount of food or grain must be first supplied. Without 
the food, the pig will be found at the end of the year a 
* The Sea Island Cotton bloom is yellow. 
landpike; and so the cotton, without the geine or ma¬ 
nure, will be found, as is too common, the little Fede - 
rich ! Were I to assume an affirmative position in thig 
analogy, every planter would reply instanter, and most 
indignantly too,—Sir, you are behind the times; our 
own sage Franklin, more than a half century ago, in his 
friendly advice to Poor Richard, has assured us “ that 
by constantly taking out of the meal tub and never put¬ 
ting in, we shall soon find the bottom.” Philosophically 
true this—good homespun and sound doctrine; yet plain 
and simple as be this doctrine, the cotton planter knows 
it only in song—his acquaintance with this golden truth 
is theoretic entirely. His exhausted fields and dwarfish 
puny cotton, tell talcs more positively conti-adictory and 
gloomy, than I have room or inclination here to enume¬ 
rate. 
The goveiming principle then, in this improvement, is 
to give constant and diligent attention to keep the meal 
tub well supplied. In the first place, produce and haul 
out upon your land a sufficiency of good manure, fully to 
supply the requirements of the plant all the season. In 
another place, I have shown that it is a perfectly easy 
matter to produce this manure, to which I will further 
add here, that the decaying materials abound spontane¬ 
ously, scattered up and down, filling each nook and cor¬ 
ner on every plantation, dui'ing all the season, a wasting 
nuisance that might be easily collected and converted 
into a profitable revenue, if but one-third the time and 
attention otherwise sedulously consumed in the butchery 
of the soil, in a petit war against grass and weeds, the 
inevitable produce of such latitudinarian systems of cul¬ 
ture, was devoted to that most valuable employment. In 
this important department of agriculture, science is ac¬ 
tively engaged in rendering the planter the most essential 
seiwice. 
Having derived these important indications from the 
figure and natural characteristics of a perfectly matured 
cotton plant, the judgment of the planter is brought into 
active requisition in properly adjusting its relative posi¬ 
tion in width of row and its situation on the drill, in or¬ 
der that we secure the greatest possible advantage in its 
subsequent culture. My own experience inclines me to 
the opinion that when land is improved only to the ex¬ 
tent of 150 to 200 bushels of manure per acre, less than 
fifteen square superficial feet to each stalk will be too 
close. Nor will improvement carried to five times that 
extent, require greater distance than twenty square feet 
to each stalk. Since, then, it is found necessaiy that 
each stalk occupy this distance, it would appear that the 
simplest course would be to lay off the rows equi-distant 
each way. The question is frequently asked, “Why not 
lay off the land 4 by 4 feet, or 5 by 4 feet ?” There is 
a very serious objection to this simple plan, w r hich every 
planter must perceive on a moment’s reflection. In ei¬ 
ther case, the cotton will be found so entii’ely inteidocked 
by the 20th June to the 1st of July, as to forbid further 
work; yet we find, under the most favorable cii’cum- 
stances of seasons and culture, that it will take the stalk 
until the 10th July to attain the height of six feet, short 
of which we should not top it, nor eai'lier in the season; 
and it is very desirable, and highly necessary even, that 
the cotton be swept once after topping it, which we find 
impi’acticable unless the rows be laid off wide one way, 
with a view to that desirable operation. Upon land 
then, that is but moderately improved, I prefer the rows 
north and south 5 feet, by 3 feet east and west; and upon 
land in a higher state of improvement, 6 feet by 40 inches 
will be found the best distance. Though we shall find 
the stalk a little crowded the nari’ow way by this course, 
yet we secure the moi’e important advantage, in being 
able to scrape and pulverize the surface later in the sea¬ 
son. I suppose there to be other advantages likewise, 
in this plan of laying the rows at right angles, north and 
south, and east and west, and bedding the land north and 
south, to which, however, I must refer at another time. 
The next object to which I shall direct your attention, 
is the mode of culture which I conceive to be necessary 
in the after management of the cotton plant; the cor¬ 
rectness, and even superiority of which, I hope to estab¬ 
lish as clearly here, as in practice it has so triumphantly 
succeeded. The constant and mvarjajile success which 
