100 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Cotton is planted here about the middle of April, after the 
j s / . ne planted,” as the negroes say. The seed is 
drilled, being covered very slightly in beds three or four feet 
apart. When it comes up, it is worked with the hoe, and 
gradually as it attains strength thinned out, until when three 
or four inches high, a small clump of two or three are permit- 
ted to remain about eight inches apart—this being what is call¬ 
ed “ a stand.” It is sowed abundantly in order to procure “ a 
stand,” after the many enemies with which cotton is afflicted 
have concluded their ravages. The first of these is the cut¬ 
worm—a similar worm, I believe, to that which destroys cab¬ 
bages. I have known whole fields cut off almost entirely by 
this destructive insect. When its ravages are so general as 
last year, it is called the “ army worm.” Whether it is differ¬ 
ent from the garden cut-worm, I am unable to say, but it 
certainly resembles it very much. Another enemy is of the 
louse kind. It covers the stem and under side of the leaf- 
myriads of them upon a single plant. 
Cotton requires constant labor with the hoe. Grass grows 
so luxuriantly here, that it is with difficulty kept down, and 
the whole crop, be it seven or seven hundred acres, must be 
handled three times at least with the hoe. About the time of 
blossoming it is, in the current phrase, “ laid by,” requiring 
no more attention until the earliest blooms have ripened into 
cotton, which, in this latitude, is seldom before the 1st of Sep¬ 
tember. The “ bowls” then open and the cotton hangs out. 
The crop, however, requires several pickings, being depen¬ 
dant upon the successive stages of blossoms of the plant, and 
it is rarely until Christmas that all is out—indeed, I have seen 
it in tne field until February. 
There are few of the class of large planters here, being 
mostly of a moderate grade. The crops vary of course al¬ 
most indefinitely in size. From two to three hundred acres in 
cotton is doing quite handsomely. This requires from thirty 
to forty hands, the usual calculation being seven acres of cot¬ 
ton and five of corn to each hand. One bale per acre, of 
f licked or ginned cotton, is an excellent yield—more frequent- 
y coming short, than realizing that amount. A bale, packed, 
already for market, weighs from 450 to 500 pounds, perhaps 
averaging 450 pounds. 
Corn yields tolerably well, though the climate is rather hot 
for it. Thirty or forty bushels per acre is a good yield, and 
commands almost always from forty to fifty cents"a bushel. 
Wheat is a very uncertain crop, sometimes yielding nothing 
at all; and even when it yields, it is of an inferior quality to 
northern wheat. Ohio flour is universally used in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the Mississippi river. Immense quantities of up 
river produce are brought down in flat boats,, which lie in 
crowds at the landings of Memphis and Randolph. I have 
counted fifty and sixty flat boats at the landing at Memphis 
frequently. 
Irish potatoes grown here are of an inferior quality; they 
are good enough during the summer while new, but as a crop 
they are poor and watery ; perhaps the fault is in the mode 
of cultivation, being permitted to take a second growth, which 
I think is probably the case; but sweet potatoes are brought 
to fine perfection, and are everywhere the main dependance 
for winter vegetables. There are two varieties of sweet pota¬ 
toes, the yam and the long Spanish potato. The yams 
grow very large; I have seen them four, five, and even six 
inches in diameter. The climate is admirably suited to them, 
and they are, in truth, a most delicious vegetable. 
If agreeable to you, Messrs. Editors, I will write you again, 
if any thing of a local nature should suggest itself to me. 
E. H. K. 
Fayette County , Tennessee, May, 1841. 
Agricultural Geology. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Ten simple minerals, some¬ 
times called the “ Geological Alphabet,” form the elements of 
our globe. These minerals, variously combined, constitute 
from twenty-five to thirty varieties of rocks, piled into moun¬ 
tains, also appearing in ledges and boulders, or loose frag¬ 
ments, scattered over the earth. Upon the character of the 
rocks depends the surface of country, soil, mineral wealth, and 
other facilities and resources for productive industry, and for 
physical, intellectual and moral prosperity. 
The ten elementary minerals are quartz, felspar, mica, horn- 
blend, lime, slate, gypsum, serpentine, talc, and chlorit. By 
various combinations, the rocks formed from them may be 
classed into five or six families. The Granite family consists 
of three members, viz: granite, gneiss and mica slate, all com¬ 
posed of quartz, felspar, and mica, in different proportions and 
arrangements. 
The Hornblend family consists of three or four members, 
viz: greenstone, or traprocks, hornblend rock, hornblend 
slate, and sienite, masses of which are scattered extensively 
over the world, broken from mountain ranges of great extent 
in various countries. 
The calcareous, or Lime family of rocks, consists of members 
more numerous, and more various in character, and not less 
interesting to farmers than either of the others mentioned. In 
this family are common limestone, most or all the marbles, 
chalk, (all carbonates of lime,) gypsum, or plaster of Paris, 
which is the sulphate offline. 
The Magnesian family of rocks embraces serpentine ridges, 
noted in agriculture only for their barrenness, but rich in ores 
which produce some of our most beautiful paints, especially 
chrome yellow. Soapstone is also a magnesian rock, com¬ 
posed principally of talc. 
The Conglomerate family is composed of fragments, or scat¬ 
tered remains of the rocks just named, again collected and 
cemented into large masses, and even mountain ranges. 
They are pudding-stone, sandstone, and graywack, each ap¬ 
pearing under a great variety of forms. 
To the farmer, all the simple minerals, the various rocks 
and the families, or classes under which they may be arranged, 
are of much interest. Several of them, as they determine 
the character and constitute the elements of soils, may be 
considered almost fundamental, both in the science and art 
of agriculture. Those of special, and even paramount impor¬ 
tance, are quartz, which is of the character of sand, and fel¬ 
spar, forming, when pulverized, varieties of clay and lime, 
which, though not essential to a good soil, like the other two, 
is still necessary to give a soil the highest degree of fertility. 
Stiff soils, light soils, loamy, calcareous, and all other.soils, 
depend much upon the proportions in which these'three simple 
minerals, and especially the two first, are combined. Quartz, 
or silex, predominates in all soils, even stiff or clayey, as they 
are denominated. In light soils it is the principal'ingredient, 
though pure silex, sand or quartz, produces entire barrenness; 
capable, however, in some instances of being rendered fertile 
by the addition of a small portion of clay. 
If it should be asked, how these elementary substances and 
principles of soils can be rendered available by farmers, the 
answer must be, let them procure “ Geological Cabinets,” 
or specimens, so selected, arranged, labelled and described, as 
will present in a visible, tangible, intelligible form, the ground 
work of the whole matter. A small collection of such speci¬ 
mens seldom, if ever, fails to add others and still others, till 
tens soon increase to hundreds, and a single ray becomes 
broad daylight. 
If such Geological Cabinets could be used and explained by 
lectures of a familiar practical character, their interest and use¬ 
fulness would be greatly increased. At present it may be dif¬ 
ficult to procure men competent for such lectures; but if a 
call should be made for them, with a prospect of remunera- 
tion, men entirely competent to the enterprise might soon be 
qualified; some could now -be found, already prepared, to 
make such lectures in a high degree instructive and entertain¬ 
ing. To my mind, no step presents itself as more important 
for giving to farmers a knowledge of Agricultural Geology, or 
for promoting the improvement of their farms or their minds, 
than a call for cabinets and lectures, designed to illustrate this 
highly practical and popular science. 
The “ Geological Surveys ” now in progress or completed 
in nearly all the States, present a strong reason why this or 
some other step should be taken, to diffuse the knowledge 
collected by these surveys, in large amounts, and at great ex¬ 
pense, and which is still liable to be confined to a few ponde¬ 
rous volumes, placed upon the shelves of the State or college 
libraries, instead of going into the possession and to the use of 
farmers and mechanics, at whose expense such information 
has been principally collected. 
If the thirty or forty agricultural journals now published in 
our country, should unite their strength in procuring and sus¬ 
taining lectures as here proposed, they could hardly fail of a 
measure of success, which would give to them a large reward, 
by giving to the country a great amount of light, on a highly 
important and interesting subject. 
New-York, May 10, 1841. JOSIAH HOLBROOK. 
"We have seen “Geological Cabinets,” prepared under the 
direction of the Universal Exchange Lyceum, which, though 
consisting of twenty-five specimens only, are selected, arrang¬ 
ed and classified in such a manner as to illustrate the ele¬ 
ments and structure of our globe. As these cabinets are sold 
at $ 1-50 each, they may and ought to be possessed by every in¬ 
telligent family in our land. They may be had of E. H. Pease, 
Sabbath School Depository, Albany, and of Messrs. Gould, 
Newman & Saxton, corner of Fulton and Nassau-streets, New- 
York.— Eds. 
Culture of Tobacco in Connecticut, 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker — I noticed in the last number 
of the Cultivator a request for information on the most ap¬ 
proved method of growing and curing Tobacco. There is, 
m this village and vicinity, about 200 tons raised annually. 
I have for the ten years past made it a part of my farm-work 
to grow the article, and if you please, you may give your read¬ 
ers my method of growing it, which is nearly the same as 
other growers of it in this place. 
I raise from two to three acres of it annually, this being as 
much as I can attend well, and cultivate properly the variety 
of other crops of my farm. In giving a full account of the 
process I will commence with wnat tne tobacco grower calls 
the bed, which consists of a few rods of rich moist ground, as 
well prepared as the most productive garden ; on this sow the 
seed about the 1st of April; as for the quantity of seed, I have 
no particular rule, probably a spoonful of good seed would be 
sufficient for one square rod of ground ; in about three weeks 
after it is sown, it will make its appearance. The bed must be 
kept clean from weeds until the plants are of a suitable size to 
transplant, which will be generally about the 10th of June. 
The best method of preparing the land on which the crop is to 
be grown, is to dress the ground in the autumn with a coat of 
manure, and then another in the spring; in all about thirty 
loads of good manure to an acre. The land should be fre¬ 
quently plowed in the spring, that the manure may be well 
mixed with the soil. When the plants are of a suitable size 
to transplant, the land on which the crop is to be grown 
should be well harrowed, then rowed, which is performed by 
attaching chains to a pole about three and a half feet apart, 
which will be the distance between rows and drawn across 
the field, which is usually done by two men. On these rows, 
with a hoe, the hills arc made, two and a half feet apart, in which 
on some rainy day the plants are set, one plant in a hill. If 
the season is dry, the plants must be watered immediately af¬ 
ter they are set out. If any of the plants wither and die, or 
if the worms destroy them, as they usually do more or less, 
other plants must be set in the place. The plow or cultiva¬ 
tor should be used between the rows to loosen the ground and 
destroy the weeds, and the plants be frequently and carefully 
hoed." The worms should be destroyed, or they will destroy 
or very much injure the plants. When the plant puts forih 
its blossom, so much of tne top of the stock should be broken 
off as has not leaves of sufficient size to remain; also the 
shoots that spring out between the leaves should all be broken 
off. When the plants are sufficiently ripe, as they are gene¬ 
rally about the 1st of September, they must be carefully cut 
and laid upon the ground to wilt for a few hours, then be carted 
to the barn and hung upon poles to cure. The plants fasten¬ 
ed to the poles with twine wound around the stock across the 
pole, top downward, spreading them sufficiently for the free 
circulation of air, with the poles about one foot apart. The 
barn should be sufficiently ventilated, but not so much open 
as to expose the tobacco to winds and storms. Two months 
of mild weather will generally cure it. When the stem in the 
leaf is cured hard, it is taken down from the poles in damp 
weather, when the leaf will not crumble, the leaves stripped 
from the stock, bound in bundles called hands, and packed 
for further use. Most of the tobacco in this place is packed 
in boxes of 300 or 400 pounds each, and sent to the New-York 
or Philadelphia market. 
When a barn is built expressly to cure tobacco in, as most 
of them thus used here are, it should be with ten or fifteen feet 
posts, twenty-four feet in width, and length as is wanted. A 
barn with ten feet posts, twenty-four feet wide, and sixty feet 
in length, will usually be large enough to hold the produce of 
one acre of land. 
The produce from one acre of land, well cured, will ave¬ 
rage about one ton, or from 1,500 to 2,500 pounds. The quan¬ 
tity depending on the fertility of the soil, season, cultivation 
and curing. The comparative amount of labor required in 
growing this crop is about four to one of com—that is, it re¬ 
quires as much labor to raise one acre of tobacco as it does 
lour of corn. J, p. 
Warehouse Point, Ct., March 24, 184L 
Freezing- of Potatoes and Apples. 
Messrs... Gayloko & Tucker — I am always eager for the 
perusal ol every communication from your respected corres¬ 
pondent of Essex county, (Va.) and believe I also express the 
opinions of others, when I say that such a man as James M. 
Garnett cannot be “zealous overmuch,” in the cause of 
agriculture. On reading an article of his in the February 
No. of the Cultivator, vol. 8, on the preservation of root crops, 
the facts therein stated in regard to the Irish potato being per¬ 
fectly preserved after repeated freezing in the ground, and yet 
if permitted to freeze out of the ground, is thereby entirely de¬ 
stroyed, brings to mind a fact within my knowledge, which 
may not be generally known. In the fall of 1837, my winter 
apples were put up in barrels with dry earth, and stored away 
in my barn. The approaching winter proved to be uncom¬ 
monly cold, and in the course of winter, I do not believe there 
was a single apple in the lot of barrels, eight or ten in number, 
but was entirely frozen to the core ; but as warm weather ap¬ 
proached, a gradual thaw took place in each barrel of apples, 
without, I believe, a single apple having been injured by the 
freezing; on the contrary they greatly improved by the mel¬ 
lowing process that took place with the thawing. They 
were a large red pleasant-flavored apple, known with us as 
Abrams. I do not pretend to know that apples are invaria¬ 
bly liable to rot by being permitted to freeze and thaw out of 
earth, but am inclined to believe so. I have understood from 
persons engaged in the oyster business during winter, (and 
do not doubt its correctness,) that if frozen oysters are return¬ 
ed to their own element while frozen, they will not die, but if 
permitted to thaw by the action of the atmosphere alone, all 
hope of their recovery is at an end, and to put them in water 
for the purpose of saving them would be useless. 
I like to have forgotten to add that I suffer my Irish pota¬ 
toes to remain in the beds where cultivated, protected by a 
heavy cover of fall grass, all winter, and dig when wanted for 
use, (I only plant a sufficiency for family consumption,) and 
find.them in the spring but partially injured. C. 
Warwick co., Va., March 17, 1841. 
Floored and Unfloored Stables. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Among the many valuable 
articles which the January No. of the Cultivator contains, one 
is headed Stables without Floors.” I have been in the ha¬ 
bit, for a few years past, of using floored and ground stables, 
and have concluded that in general for cattle, stables without 
floors were the best; but for horses, I prefer a good plank floor 
for this reason: I think that a horse can be kept more com¬ 
fortably and cleaner on a floor than on the ground; and I 
think full as much manure can be made on a tight floor as on 
the ground. One argument which your correspondent uses is, 
that “ horses’ hoofs are greatlv benefitted by standing on the 
ground.” Now, I do not profess to be much acquainted with 
horse flesh, but I think it looks reasonable that the cleaner 
and the more dry a horse’s hoofs are kept, the better they will 
be preserved from disease; and I am certian that they can be 
kept as dry on a floor as on the ground. We are now using 
ground and floor stables for our cattle, and I don’t know but 
that we make as much manure on our floor as on our ground 
stables; But as floor stables will be used by a good many, I 
would recommend to all those who are about building, to have 
their plank sawed of an even thickness and jointed so as to 
make it tight. In laying down the plank, let them be laid so 
that the hind feet of the cattle may rest an inch or two lower 
than their fore feet. Let there be, at the bottom of the floor 
near the door sill, a trough sunk down on a level with the 
floor. This will serve to catch all the liquids and juices which 
will fall on the floor, and with a shovel, it can be put in and 
mixed with the heap. In this way I think full as much ma¬ 
nure can be made as upon the ground. With regard to 
spreading manure about the cattle yard, I am of the same 
Opinion of your correspondent, that to let the cattle tread upon 
it, it serves to mix it with other manures; if left to lie in a 
heap it is apt to burn, and become useless. We have found 
too, upon trial, that one load of manure housed, is worth two 
loads which are left out to be drenched by the rains and to un¬ 
dergo the action of the frost. It will pay as good interest to 
house our manure as to house our cattle. Those who have 
no convenient place to put it, let them erect temporary sheda 
to keep it in. Yours with respect, L. DURAND. 
Derby, Ct., February 4, 1841. 
A Journey Contemplated. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I now have it in contempla¬ 
tion to' make an extensive agricultural tour during the coming 
summer, and it would be a great pleasure to me, and I have 
reason to believe it would be equally so to some of your read¬ 
ers, to form a personal acquaintance with them as far as 
practicable; and as I shall “take notes,” and you will “print 
them,” it may also conduce to our mutual improvement. I 
have, therefore, thought proper to make this public announce¬ 
ment of my intention and route. All communications ad¬ 
dressed to me before the 1st of August, at this place, upon the 
subject of the journey, or requiring business done on the route, 
will be attended to. I shall also be glad to communicate with 
the friends of agricultural improvement at the following places, 
and I shall call upon the following named persons, with whom 
any information for me may be left, viz: Friend Willets, Edi¬ 
tor of Indiana Farmer, Indianapolis; Hon. John Sering, Ma¬ 
dison, la.; Thos. B. Stevenson, Esq., Editor Kentucky Far¬ 
mer, Frankfort; Messrs. Affleck & Hopper, Editors Farmer 
and Gardener, Cincinnatti, O.; Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, Com¬ 
missioner Patent Office, Washington; James M. Garnett, Es¬ 
sex co., Va.; G. B. Smith, Esq., Baltimore, Md.; James Ped- 
der, Philadelphia, Pa.; P. Sather, Esq., Broker, Nassau- 
street, New-York. I shall also visit Stonington, Ct.; Provi¬ 
dence and Boston. 
At Albany I shall not only see you, gentlemen, but, I trust, 
many good friends. Returning, I shall visit Utica, Rochester, 
and at Buffalo, sans ceremonie, I shall invite myself to partake 
of the hospitality of A. B. Allen, Esq. 
I hope to be able to give some information about matters 
and things in the West, to those of my agricultural brethren 
with whom I niay chance to meet, and I expect to gather a 
great fund of useful information for my own use, and that of 
others, at some future time. Among other things, I intend to 
