Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-04-08
Cotton Culture
lnSf1,,Lcte6 Enrmer :

EIZifors Reconstructed Farmer:
GENTS How many acres can one mule
cultivate in cotton and corn in light
sandy soil, using sweeps, Except the first
fine, when it is ''barred off, " with one
horse plow, and the dirt thrown back with
the same pillow; only corn enough to be
made tor the support of the mule and
plowman the next year, the land to make
4hOut five barrels Of corn to the acre
The practice here is to "Ear off, as soon
rs the cotton is we'll up, and throw the
,Iirt back as soon as it can be done, the
advantage claimed is that the cotton can
be chopped out better, as 1t is lett In
narrow streak by the barring Off" Now,
this practice was correct before the days
of planters, but as the cotton now comes
Nd in narrow streak not an inch wide,
when the Dow Sewer or johnson planter
s used What is the advantage of
barring off, and have your cotton falling
.tJ79n if it rains, before you can throw the
IirC back to it Why not use the sweep
The first time, or better still a cuitiVator
ypened wide enough to fill up a row this
neither throws dirt to or takes it away
from. lie plant. This mode of cultivating,
.apposing the land to have been broken
u1 well with two horse plows, Watts or
gIuIys, and the soil to be light and
andy. Ca badly prepared or heavy clay
Soils ! admit it would not do. Now how
luucu can a mule cultivate In this way.
Wake county, n. 9. Z.
In response to the first enquiry of our
correspondent, we must confess we do not
know how many acres could be cultivated
by one mule under such circumstances, as
We are Of the few farmers that never did
!aut as much per mule as our neighbors.
For instance, we have for every three
blows four mules, which we think is ecOnO-
lIy, US we at all times, under the most
unfavorablo seasons, catch up when be-
hind.
One good plowman with a good mule
might pillow successfully forty acres with
ordinary seasons, while under good sea-
sons he might pillow more. -Four acres
producing five barrels per acre, would be
an ample suficiency to feed p!oWIOan and
mule.
lie desires to know what advantage can
is derived from 'Fbaring off,, the cot
gYu planters SOW it IN q narrow streak.
There is none, and never was any advan-
;ag0 10 be gained when the seed was sOwed
by ha.4d, unless the cotton was neglected
50 long as to get So grassy that it became
necessary to put the bar of turn pillow to
1t to cover it up on the middle.
In 1857 and IS we used the cultivation
with good success on our cotton farm. We
uiowed up and down in each row, which
flushed the ground all over, furnishing a
sufficiency Of dirt for the young plant.
After the plant gets up about knee high,
we puJ what is called the huke, with mar
row mould boards, in order to place more
dirt to the cotton.
We thought Of widening our cultlVators
out, 90 as 10 pillow the whole row at time
but found we could not succeed since our
rows were not regular in width.
Therefore we do not think with our
careless laborere, we Can have our rows
run and seeds sOwed with !hat precision
t. pillow q whole row at a time without
allowing up cotton in one place and run
ming too far from it in another.
o the last question, we say that II you
can have your rows run regular upon such
lands as described, that you might, after 1t
Is planted, cultivate moro than double In
tho usual way, by blowing out a row at one
inc.
ON the Goth page of the Reconstructed
tfsg'nlcr, YOU will see our views on the Gull
tIyaton Of cotton. We wish it understood
thut the proper way to cultivate crop of
cotton easily, is to pillow to keep the grass
from coming, and not allow 1t to come,
and then destroy it.
As we'll as we recOllect in 1859, we had q
long spell of rainy weather i'll May, and as
we had a good supply of mules, we held Oh
lis usual for the land to get in good order,
and the result was we had full crop o.
young grass.
That year. cultivators taught US they
would not do to kill grass. -Rec0nSt1'uctet
Farmer.