, 1865-11-25
CULTURE OF COTTON.


The Wca ther and the CFops-PrIce
OF Farm Labor.
Especial Correspondence Of the Chicago Tribunc1
CnAaPAIGs, Ill Nor. 70.
CULTURE OF COTTON.
The next three years will show great prog
ress IN the culture of this staple. There car
be no doubt that Northern skill will b. m
oyermatch, or rather more than substitute
for the free labor heretofore wrung from the
negro.
The implements now used in It's culture
will be thfnwn aside, and those from the
haps few additional ones.
For the last four years We have grown cot
ton, treating it the same as any other similar
plant In our grounds The result Is entirely
satisfactory, md proves to us that there Is no
more mystery In growing the cotton plant
than that Of corp, potatoes or onions. It is
as easily transplanted as cabbage, md by
starting. the plants in hot-beds ii can be
npened In this latitude in almost any season,
the last one being no exception.
The treatment this year has been Us fol-
lows The first planting, being plants dib-
bled from the hot-bed May 10th, and the
sowing Of seed In the open ground the same
day. The former matured some of its balls
before frost. Both lots were cultivated with
twOhorse sullky cultiyator, and the plants
thlnncd In tue row with common garden
hoe.
The sowing of cotton Is slow and tedious
process, when done by hand, rs 1t has been up
TO the present time, but the1aeis no great
diiieulty In the way Of o machine to plant 1t
with horse power, as rapidly as We now do
corn. The cotton seed Is adhesive from the
cotton fibre, but it can be distributed on re-
Eolying band and thus transferred to the solt:
Gardeners manage to plant beets, carrots,
nj n NIL har IL e{<,
gle machine that can be adjusted to each !; In
this great variety Of seeds we might suppose
there would be as much difficulty as In tho
planting Of cotton seed.
In Europe, where labor is cheap, there Is
hstle incentive to Invent 1abor-aartng imple<
had only to grow bis laborem as we at the
North do mules-by feeding them corn and
course food-there was even less. Now that
the tables are turned, labor, commanding
high prices from the present great demand,
oecnsfoned BY the waste made Of this mate
rial BY this war, we must make up the def
cheney in The use of improved Implements.
When We call to mind all that has been done
for the corn-held within the past twenty
years, We should have high hope OF the same
result In the cotton-deld. Tie implements
now used In the com field, can In part be ap-
piled to the culture Of cotton. These are the
iron field roller, the MARKER for laying of the
rows, and the two-horse sulky cultivator.
With the use Of these, aided by the corn-
planter, the cost Of corn culture has been re-
dnced moro than one-hall and ut the eame
time the average yield has been largely en-
hanced.
All that is apparently required Is to adapt
the corn planter to cotton planter. This at
the flrst view would appear easy, but 1t Is not
one Of the easy things after all.
The rtdging up system so generally adopt
ed may yield to tho ploughing in lands, If
1fcm one to two rods ID width, by the use Of
deep "dead furrow-"
At one time the ridging for corn was con-
sidered indispensable, bnt now 1t is laid aside
MS Of no value, aud theeystem Of fat culture
generally obtains,
Four years. experience at this point has con-
vinccd us Of the above, We have seen how
cotton is cultivated at the South, aud can
therefore sec how chanGc would affect its
condition.
There is such a similarity in the require
mcnts Of corn md cotton that they might
safely be managed by the samo system.
The implements named have wrought In
The one great change, and Il permitted will
DO 60 With the other. II fiat cultute can
nearly double the corn crop, VIC sec no reason
why 1t may not do tho same by Its congcner.
Crushing the clods with heavy IRON rollor
drawn by Two horses Is a large stride IL tho