1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
27 
®je .farmers Motc-Sook. 
Culture of Cottou. 
We have lately received a pamphlet on the composi¬ 
tion of the Cotton Plant, with suggestions as to the 
use of manures, and ffie proper cultivation of the crop. 
The author is Thomas J. Summer, Esq., of South 
Carolina, who carried on his analytical investigations 
in regard to the subjects here treated of, in the labo¬ 
ratory of Liebig, in Germany, and we are informed 
that the correctness of the results is sanctioned by that 
celebrated chemist. The work, however, is not offered 
as the basis of a new theory for the production of cot¬ 
ton, but merely as suggestive of a more profitable 
mode of cultivating the plant. After having stated the 
result of the analysis of the plant and the seed, the au¬ 
thor submits some remarks in regard to cultivation and 
manuring, which are deserving the attention of every 
cotton planter. His first suggestion is the adoption of 
a system of fallowing , for which he gives the following 
reasons 
“ A system of tillage, which carries away annually 
so large a portion of these natural essentials to vege¬ 
tation, and which provides no means of returning them, 
must necessarily impoverish any soil. A fixed principle 
in the agriculture of all countries where the prosperity 
of the future has been at all regarded, has been, the 
gradual but certain improvement of the soil. This is 
necessary for the support of increased population, and 
in the slave states, where there has been such an ex¬ 
traordinary and rapid increase of the laboring popula¬ 
tion, it should never be lost sight of. The intensity of 
our southern sun-shine, prevents, in a great measure, 
the annual coat of grass which supplies vegetable mat¬ 
ter to the soil in northern climates, and the never-end¬ 
ing occupation of the soils, by our system of culture, 
prevents the natural improvement which in other coun¬ 
tries is carried out by fallowing. We are well aware 
that fallowing is generally objected to in the south, 
and we think where fallow is converted into pasture 
land, and taxed during the whole season for the pro¬ 
duction of herbage to sustain greedy herds, the system 
might well come into disrepute. Planters too, object 
to fallowing, and say they have not land enough to 
allow one-half to lie idle, but reason and justice to the 
noble occupation of agriculture, allows this objection 
to pass unheeded,- and its fallacy is proven by the 
desert wastes of “ old fields” an agricultural feature 
only common to the New World, and we blush to say 
it, only visible to the southern planting states. In 
Europe, where arable soil compared to population, is 
a thousand times scarcer than in the southern states, 
the agriculturists find fallowing a remunerating sys¬ 
tem. It is but little understood in American agricul¬ 
ture, and we may be pardoned for giving the proper 
details for fallowing, believing it to be the cheapest 
manner of renovating our soils. A field intended for 
fallow, should be deeply plowed in mid-winter, the 
deeper the plowing the better. This is simple prepa¬ 
ration, but nevertheless, necessary; and above all 
things, keep every description of stock off the field. 
The porousness of the soil will facilitate the assimila¬ 
tion of the natural salts of the earth, and atmospheric 
action, wdth the dissolving influence of the rains, will 
generally bring to the aid of the succeeding crop, a 
sufficient quantity of these for its production. Late in 
autumn the herbage should be turned under. This 
process exerts a chemical and natural influence beneficial 
to the soil; first, as by decomposition of vegetable 
matter carbonic acid is produced, which is known to 
act as a powerful solvent of phosphated alkalies; 
secondly, those portions of the grass and weeds, not 
r eadily decomposable, when admixed with the soil, 
gives it that friability so necessary to easy tillage, and 
thus aids the agriculturist in his future labors. A sys¬ 
tem of green fallows might, by the aid of the Black 
and Red Tory pea, be judiciously adopted in the cot¬ 
ton growing states. Owing to their imperviousness to 
wet, they can be sown in mid-winter, and vegetating 
in the spring, without the aid of cultivation, generally 
make, upon ordinarily productive land, a sufficient crop 
to protect it from the sun in summer, and smother out 
those w T eeds which are such a pest to cultivated crops. 
The constituents of the Indian pea—known to be in a 
great measure derived from the atmosphere—would, in 
all probability, furnish a better green crop for subver¬ 
sion, than the natural grasses and weeds.” 
As an auxiliary to fallowing, he recommends the 
application of compost of muck, leaves, and other vege¬ 
table matters, with animal excrements; also bones, 
guano, wood ashes, and lime. He recommends dis¬ 
solving the bones according to the mode practiced by 
Prof. Liebig, as follows:—“ Pour over the crushed 
bones or bone ashes, half their weight of sulphuric 
acid, diluted with four parts of water, and after they 
have been digested for twenty-four hours, add one 
hundred parts of water; sprinkle this mixture over 
the field immediately before plowing. By its action, 
in a few seconds, the free acids, uniting with the bases 
contained in the earth, a neutral salt is formed, in a 
very fine state of division. . Experiments instituted on 
soils, for the purpose of ascertaining the action of ma¬ 
nure prepared in this manner, have distinctly shown 
that neither grain nor kitchen garden plants suffer in¬ 
jurious effects in consequence, but that, on the contra¬ 
ry, they thrive with much more vigor after its applica¬ 
tion.” 
Culture of Potatoes in Kentucky. 
Eds. Cultivator —The rapidly increasing trade 
and population of New Orleans, together with the im¬ 
mense floating multitude upon our western waters, 
renders the potato crop one of considerable importance- 
Up to the 4th of November, of the present season, 
thirty-five thousand eight hundred barrels, are reported 
to have been shipped from the port of Louisville, near¬ 
ly all of which were raised within the immediate vi¬ 
cinity of the city, several individuals having planted 
one hundred acres each. 
As our mode of cultivating this crop differs in some 
particulars from that practiced in some other portions 
of the Union, I will briefly describe it. 
The variety now mostly esteemed and cultivated, is 
the Neshannock or Mercer, producing a small top, and 
the tubers forming immediately at the base of the 
vines, they occupy less space than most other kinds. 
None but the best and largest seed should be planted. 
The old and long cherished plan of planting “ in the 
dark of the moon in June,” has mostly been abandoned, 
and they are now planted as early in the spring as the 
ground is in a fit condition to work. It is thoroughly 
plowed, as deep as it can conveniently be done, and 
harrowed. The rows are then laid off with a two- 
horse plow, about two and a half feet apart. The 
seed should be cut into pieces of two or three eyes 
each, and exposed to dry for several days before 
it is planted. The pieces are dropped about eight 
inches apart in the rows. The covering is done with 
a one-horse plow, throwing a full furrow. As soon as 
the plants begin to appear near the surface of the 
ground, the whole is again harrowed across the fur¬ 
rows, leaving the ground level, and entirely destroying 
the young weeds. In eight or ten days the cultivator 
is passed twice between the rows; and w T hen the plants 
have reached the height of eight or ten inches, they 
are braced up by throwing with a single plow, a mode¬ 
rate furrow on each side. This again covers and de- 
