acre a cotton plant, thereby securing to each plant its natural (pyramidal) form and continuous healthy growth to perfect maturity; hence there is here no crowding of the plants, nor is there any space unoccupied. And here allow me to remark, emphatically, that this natural (pyramidal) form of the plant is absolutely essential to its perfect maturity. It is not possible for this uniformity and perfect stand of plants to be had by any other mode or system of culture yet devised. Another short paragraph will simplify this illustration. Take, for instance, an acre of common cotton land anywhere in the cotton region proper, seeding it with wheat, and give it the necessary fertilization and culture for the production of 1,800 pounds of grain, (30 bushels;) a result easily attainable. Then take an adjoining acre of the same character of land, with the same fertilization, and plant it with cotton seed, cultivated in all respects according to this improved system, and it will produce the first year 1,500 to 1,800 pounds of cotton seed; with this important addition, that from the atmosphere the cotton plant clothes the seed by assimilating its carbonic acid with 500 pounds of snow-white lint or

cotton.

Here we have an improved system of cotton culture, practical and certain in its results, entirely adapted in every operation to "labor-saving implements and machinery." The land may be thoroughly ploughed with "gang ploughs," the seed dropped and covered at regular distances apart in the rows by seed planters, when all the subsequent work in its culture is just such as the intelligent gardener applies to his enriched soil in growing his superior vegetables. This system of cotton culture commends itself to intelligent laborers and their families; its various operations are comparatively light, (five acres to the hand.) Then again its highest recommendation consists in its permanent improvement of the soil and the bountiful crops of grain it secures to the planter. This five acres, after the cotton is picked off, has returned to the soil the leaves of the cotton plant, the burrs, the stalks, and the seed, except three to four bushels for planting other five acres the next year.

The rows being laid level, neither the enriched soil, nor the debris of the cotton plant returned as above to the field, can be washed off by the rains. This five acres the second year is planted in corn, which yields readily, of an ordinary season, 40 bushels of corn per acre, or 200 bushels to the hand.

The third year it is seeded to wheat, rye, oats, or any small grain crop the farmer may desire. With a light dressing of plaster or superphosphate, (the latter preferable,) an entirely remunerating yield is obtained.

The fourth year it lies in grass fallow, to be disposed of through the season as the interest of the farmer may require.

COTTON PLANTING.

BY JOSEPH B. LYMAN, LATE OF LOUISIANA.

SELECTION OF A COTTON FARM.

THREE or four considerations of a general character must be taken into account by every person who proposes to enter upon the business of producing cotton. The first and most important of these is climate. Cotton will grow and yield a few mature bolls as far north as the latitude of Philadelphia. It has been cultivated to quite an extent in Maryland and Delaware, and in the southern part of New Jersey. West of the Alleghanies, it will grow in southern Illinois, and in

northern Missouri; but the result of the experiments of 1862 ought to be candidly stated, and it may now be considered a settled question in American agriculture that cotton must command very high prices, (from fifty cents to a dollar a pound,) to prove a paying crop north of the thirty-sixth parallel. In other words, the line drawn through Nashville, Tennessee, and Raleigh, North Carolina, divides the country into two sections. In the northern portion cotton is profitable only when it commands war prices, and south of this line its growth will be lucrative until it falls below ten cents a pound; but this line is not the northern limit of the cotton belt proper. In the valley of the Mississippi one must go below Memphis to find an entirely suitable climate, and on the Atlantic seaboard he must go south of Cape Hatteras. The western limit of the cotton fields of the United States is a line passing north and south through San Antonio, in Texas. The extreme length of this region is nearly fifteen hundred miles, and its width a little over three hundred, thus giving four hundred and fifty thousand square miles, in the greater portion of which a location for a cotton farm may be chosen. In the northern parts of this belt-that is, in the region lying north of Atlanta and Columbia, in the east, and north of the mouth of the Arkansas, in the Mississippi valley-the farmer proposing to raise cotton as one of his crops can easily associate with it the production of wheat, oats, clover, sorghum, and the growth of apples, pears, and other fruits found throughout the northern part of the temperate zone. In the southern part of this belt, Louisiana, Florida, and the lower part of Texas, the cereals, except Indian corn, have never been considered profitable crops, and the fruits met with are of a tropical or semi-tropical character, such as the orange, the lemon, the fig, and, in Florida, the banana and pineapple. Cotton is essentially an exotic in all parts of the United States. It is a tropical tree with a life which naturally extends throughout a number of years, but, transplanted to our soil, it becomes an annual instead of a perennial; and the vigor of the plant in place of producing woody fibre, as it does in the tropics, is expended in the multiplication of its pods; hence the best part of the cotton zone is the comparatively narrow belt, where the winters are severe enough to produce ice and frozen ground at intervals during about two months of the year, and the summers are long and hot. Another requisite of a good cotton climate is that the relations between the mountains and the sea, and the moist winds that blow from it, may be such as to give abundant rains in spring, followed by frequent but not violent summer showers, and an autumn that, for months, is almost entirely rainless. The lower part of the Appalachian range, running diagonally across the country, and producing high lands in the northern parts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, which slope gently down to the Atlantic and the Gulf, gives the climate described to all the cotton States that lie east of the Mississippi. The Osage mountains, which extend in a southwesterly direc tion through southern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and become hills in northern Texas, produce a similar climate in the region west of the Mississippi. When a person has determined to engage in a cotton-planting enterprise somewhere within the limits of this extensive tract, the next practical question for his decision will be whether, all things considered, it is advisable to select alluvial or river bottom lands in preference to a soil somewhat less fertile among the hills. Fifteen years ago by far the greater part of the cotton crop of the United States was produced on hill lands; probably one-half of the crop of 1860 grew upon lands within cannon-shot of some of the streams that debouch into the Gulf. From 1850 to 1860 the tendency of the agricultural capital of the South to desert the uplands and transfer their labor to the inexhaustible soil of the river bottoms was marked. In a general way it may be said that an acre of the best alluvion will produce twice as much cotton as an acre of ordinary hill land, and that under even the most careless system of culture the alluvion will continue to produce successive crops of cotton for generations, without any material decline of fertility, whereas ten or fifteen years of careless and unscientific planting upon

hill lands will render them comparatively worthless. This seems to indicate a very great superiority in river lands; but there are several facts, by way of offset, which should be candidly stated:

1st. The alluvial lands of the south, and particularly of the southwest, are all heavily timbered, and it requires a considerable amount of capital to open them, and those already opened and in cultivation command a high price.

2d. As a rule, the valleys immediately bordering upon all the streams that pour into the Gulf are miasmatic. Covered as they are with rank vegetable growth, and saturated by the heavy rains of winter and spring, and quite frequently by inundations, when the fierce sun of this semi-tropical climate is poured upon them, an exhalation is produced, which, under the most favorable circumstances and in the most vigorous constitutions, will cause some derangement of health, and often acute illness.

3d. The greater portion of the lands on the banks of the Mississippi and all its larger tributaries, and also of most other southern streams, are liable to become submerged by spring floods.

In the Mississippi valley this inundation would be annual, and almost universal, were it not for a levee system, which is very expensive and never affords entire security from water. In a great number of minds these serious objections to the river lands for cotton-planting purposes, more than balance their superior fertility. Although previous to the war there was a strong tendency in capital and labor to desert the hill lands, they are by no means exhausted, and millions of acres of southern uplands are still covered with aboriginal forests. By proper inquiry and search it is not difficult now to obtain cotton lands at reasonable prices, which, though situated above overflow, produce almost as well as the best alluvions. The fine black cane lands of middle Alabama, for instance, cover an area of about two millions of acres, every acre of which is capable of producing four hundred pounds of ginned cotton annually without manure; and the black rolling prairie lands of Texas are of much greater extent and of equal fertility. With these general suggestions as to the selection of cotton lands, let us pass to a consideration of the

STOCK, LABORERS, AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE COTTON FARM.

The cultivation and harvesting of a cotton crop requires hardly any peculiarity in the form of the ordinary implements of husbandry. Several large cast-iron ploughs, capable of cutting a deep furrow, are required for the first plonghing. After that, the entire cultivation can be performed by light implements, the form of which will be mentioned hereafter. An ordinary light hoe is suited to cotton culture. Some small harrows would be required. For draught animals on a cotton farin, mules are preferable to either oxen or horses. The plough labor in the cotton field is not heavy, but it is greatly protracted, lasting through at least four months, during which the animals must be in traces almost every day. This steady and monotonous toil, under a blazing sun, is much more exhausting to horses than to mules. In selecting mules, size is not generally an important recommendation. A mule that is compactly built and hardy in his temperament, and having a rapid walk, is the best animal for the cotton field. All the movements required in cultivating cotton are light and brisk. The ground is to be stirred frequently, but not to a great depth after the first ploughing; consequently, animals that have a brisk gait are far more effective and valuable in this crop than such as have a heavier build and slower movement. As a rule, a mule and a laborer may be calculated as necessary for every ten acres. If the soil is superior, as a river bottom or black prairie, the planter may expect a bale to the If his lands are light and considerably worn, from two hundred to three hundred pounds per acre is all he may calculate upon; hence, on such lands he may put in fifteen acres to the hand, provided his laborers are good cotton-pick

acre.

ers. It requires a good picker to gather ten bales in the picking season, and, of course, this can be done with greater ease from ten acres than from fifteen. It is never advisable to put in very large crops, unless the labor supply is such that the hands regularly employed on the place for the year can be considerably reinforced during the picking season. It requires no remarkable industry for a band to cultivate from ten to fifteen acres in a light free soil, but he must be a very active picker in order to harvest the crop that should grow upon this surface. Except in very wet seasons, and on soils foul with grass and weeds, the cotton crop will allow of sufficient intervals for the planting and cultivation of a crop of corn, potatoes, oats, and the usual garden vegetables, sufficient, at least, for the home consumption of the stock and laborers on the farm. The sweet potato flourishes on all soils suited to cotton. It can be cultivated when the weather is too wet for labor in the cotton field, and an acre in sweet potatoes produces three or four times as much nourishment, for man or beast, as the same acre planted in Indian corn. With regard to laborers of whatever race, the man of moderate size and quick movement is a better hand than one who is powerful but slow. Throughout the year, in all stages of cultivation and harvesting, cotton requires a light brisk movement and patience of monotonous toil. On this account women are generally as effective, and often more so than men, as laborers in this crop. When the picking season comes on, (and that is the only time when there is a steady pressure upon the whole force of the place,) the woman is, as a rule, swifter in movement than the man, equal to him in patience, and those of the African race, at least, prefer to labor in the open air. With regard to white labor throughout the year in our cotton fields, this much may be safely affirmed, that in the uplands, even as far south as to the middle of the cotton belt, probably one-half of the crop always has been cultivated and picked by white hands, the plantations where the Africans labored exclusively being mostly the fertile and miasmatic valleys of the principal rivers for one hundred or two hundred miles above the ocean and the broad alluvions of the Mississippi bottoms.

The average heat of Columbia, South Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, is about the same as that of western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Besides, the farm laborer is not driven from the field by the heat of the sun during so many months as he is excluded from out-door labor by the frosts and snows of higher latitudes. The number of days during which a laborer can pursue his industry in the open air, is certainly as great in Georgia as it is in New York. Another circumstance is of great importance as respects the particular crop under consideration. The busiest months in the culture of cotton are April and May, during which there are but few days of intense heat. In June, July, and August a few hours' labor early in the morning, and as many more in the afternoon, will keep the crop clean, so that the white ploughboy and his horse or mule can come in from the midday heat at ten, and remain in the shade till four in the afternoon, without neglecting the crop.

HOW COTTON SHOULD BE PLANTED.

Where the field is foul with weeds or the stalks of last year's crop, it is best to bury them under the middle of the cotton ridge, and it is recommended to run a double furrow at intervals of four feet in hill lands and at intervals of five or six feet in bottom lands. This can be done early in January, whenever the ground is not too wet. Behind each plough are two hoe hands, to break up and pull down into these ditches all the dead growth of the surface, one from the right side and the other from the left. Let it be well pulled down into the trench and covered with some earth to keep it in place. Then, about the middle of February, according to situation, latitude, and drainage of the land, let the double ploughs set in to break up the entire surface. If the rows for burying the trash are uniformly laid off, they can be used as the foundation of the bed or ridge.

Throw a deep furrow from each side into the trench, filling it and covering all the trash, and continue to plough out the intervening spaces or middles, as they are called, until the whole surface is turned under. This ploughing should be deep and thorough. If compost or barnyard manure is applied to the field it should be done just before ploughing, and scattered broadcast. If concentrated fertilizers, such as ashes, guano, gypsum, or superphosphates are to be used, they are best applied in the drill. In respect to fertilizers for the cotton field, it may be here remarked that cotton is a moderate consumer of the salts that nourish plants, especially if the seed is returned to the soil, as it should be, in the form of manure. Potash and phosphate of lime should abound in any manure applied to cotton. The effect of an abundance of potash in the soil will be to secure thrifty plants. The effect of a generous supply of phosphoric acid is to produce large seeds and a fine strong staple. This first thorough ploughing is likely to be interrupted, so that it may not be concluded until after the middle of March. The interval between ploughing and planting should be utilized by the farmer in getting under way his crops of corn, oats, and potatoes. From the first to the twentieth of April is the planting time of cotton. The old rule, and one easily remembered when once heard, is, "Plant your cotton when the leaf upon the oak is as big as a squirrel's ear." The ridges, which were formed a month or six weeks before, have become somewhat flattened and are hardened by rains, and they should be well broken up by running a small fine-toothed harrow over them once or oftener, according to the tenacity of the soil. After the harrow there should follow some suitable instrument for marking a smooth uniform drill for the reception of the seeds. The planter cannot be too particular about this. The best planters are those who are the most scrupulous about having their rows uniform in width and the plants in a straight line in the row, for the entire subsequent cultivation is rendered much easier by it. Some open the top of the ridge with a light plough, but this makes a drill too ragged and uneven. There is an implement manufactured near Atlanta, Georgia, which marks a line for the seed, drops and covers it, and is said to do its work very well, but this is not in general use. Our cotton interests would be greatly facilitated by the invention and extensive use of a good cotton-planter. A simple and effective instrument is a triangular piece of wood, measuring four or five inches on each face, with plough handles fastened into it and carefully held on the top of the ridge. This makes a smooth-sided, well-defined drill, and the seeds when dropped into it will roll to the bottom. It is well to soak the seeds a day or two before planting and roll them when damp in a mixture of plaster of Paris. They can be dropped from a basket or bag, and the best manner of doing this is by throwing four or five in a bunch at regular intervals of fifteen or twenty inches apart, and this interval can be very well measured by a short step. The seed need not be buried deep. The whole process of planting needs careful supervision, and should be performed only by a reliable and conscientious hand. If a foreman is standing at one end of the rows, the freedman (and as likely the white laborer) will start off very well, dropping the seeds uniformly and getting them well into the bottom of the drill; but after he passes along out of sight he is quite likely to grow careless, and in two weeks after, the planter will be annoyed to find his seeds coming up in irregular patches. Hence thorough supervision is earnestly recommended. The distance of the rows from each other, and the intervals of the plants in the row, should vary with the fertility of the soil. The rule for uplands is four feet between the rows and twenty inches between the plants. In lands that are strong enough to yield a bale to the acre the spaces should be five feet one way by three the other, while in the teeming and almost tropical valleys of the southwest, such as the Red river and Brazos bottoms, the luxuriance of the growth is such as to require an interval of eight feet between the rows and of five or six feet between the plants, and even then the branches interlock so that it is difficult to walk between the rows.