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that we were told that the European war and
the decline in gold brought down the price of
cotton. I view it in a very different light. The
high price of corn and meat brings down the
price of cotton, and by way of experiment, let
tfs all raise corn and meat sufficient for home
consumption, bring com down to 35 or 50 cents
per bushel and meat to sls or S2O jkt bbh, and
there will be a great improvement in the price
of cotton; and instead of millions bale*, we
will make and realize just as much.
I am in favor of immigration of any kind, not
for the purpose as G. W. Gift would ’say, of ma
king ten millions bales of cotton, but to eradicate
from our midst a trifling, thieving, worthless and
thriftless class, irreverently called the negro.
In the January No. of Southern Cultivator,
1870, page 14, Mr. Ed. Young, of Lexington, Ga.,
gives some suggestions for a Planter’s Associa
tion, which I for one would like to see occupy
a conspicuous place in every No. of the Cultiva
tor, and his views endorsed by correspondents
until its importance was forced on the minds of
the planters, and a move made to accomplish the
desired association.
T. J. JACKSON, M. D.
Liberty, Amite Cos., Miss.
COTTON SEED—HOLMES* vT" DICKSON, SIitIPSON
AND OTHERS.
Editors Southern Cultivator :—I received
to-day the enclosed circular from Dr. Holmes,
and to my surprise find in it an extract from a
a private letter written some time ago. Had the
Doctor published all I wrote him , I should have
nothing to sajL
(The following is the extract alluded to by Mr.
R : “Col. Wm. F. Robert, of Graliamville, S. C.,
writes July 7th : “Planted the “Holmes’ Early
Prolific” on the 20lAApril. I have never had,
or seen such cottYc I;x its age. It is at least one
foot taller than Dickson, and people say the
best branched cotton they ever saw. It is over
five feet high and covered with squares, blossoms
and bolls. Some of the bolls are IT inches in
diameter and 1| inches long.” He further adds
that an old planter from Bluffton, Mr. J. Porch
er, who, during the war, planted in Southwest
ern Georgia, says he never saw such a prospect
for cotton in his life, or anything approaching q
—that I will be ahead of the caterpillar. This
cotton was laid by on the 11th day of June.”)
I stated to the Doctor I had laid by some of
the Dickson on the 10th of June, because the
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR.
ground was a little drier than where his was
planted. On the I.lth of June laid by his and
some of the Dickson. The Holmes variety kept
ahead of the Dickson varieties (Sparta, Oxford,
and Simpson and Hunt) in growth. It was one
stalk to the hill, 4 foot rows; all the Dickson
varieties were 2, 8 and 4 stalks to the hill, fi, 7
to 10 inches apart. I wrote the Doctor his cot
ton was only about 8 or 10 day* earlier in matu
rity. It will now average over G feet high—
some stalks 9or 10 fwt high. Sparta Dickson
is in 4 feet of Holmes—Oxford Dickson in 3
feet. Holmes’ is the best branched cotton I ever
saw, but not thickM/ trilled like the adjoining cot -
ton. The two Dicksons both beat him, and the
stalks only about two-thirds the height of Holmes,
Simpson, in the same little patch of 0 acres, is
more prolific unifcmnly, than any other of the
Dickson varieties. All persons, up to the middle
of July, supposed Holmes would beat, but by
the 10th of August every one saw differently.—
The weights correspond with the estimates. The
bolls are even larger—much larger, than the
Doctor has described them.
Since the days of the old green seed cotton,
1 have never seen so much rotten cotton as in
the Doctor’s. I send you two bolls, taken 7 feet
at least above, the ground, where sun and air
a plenty 4 reached them. Can you tell me the
cause of the rot V Cotton pickers say they would
as soon pick 3 bolls of the Dickson as one of
the Holmes. Every one who has seen my little
patch, has begged for a few of the Simpson—
from 1 to 1 bushel of seed. The bolls on
the limbs of the Holmes arc much farther apart
than on the Dickson, and I so wrote the Doctor ,
and know he got my letter, for he replied to it:
“ it would make double or half as much again
as the Dickson.”
A part of Sparta Dickson’s seed, 2 rows, came
right between Holmes and Oxford Dickson.—
The Sparta is 3 feet lower tfian Holmes, and
about 1 foot lower than Oxford Dickson. It is
much better fruited than Holmes, and consider
ably better than the Oxford. Mr. Sparta Dick
son has evidently managed to dwarf his stalks
and increase the bearing. Simpson, though, is
more uniformly prolific. It is to be hoped, for
the public benefit, Simpson’s Prolific may soon
be surpassed. W. F. ROBERT.
Graliamville, 8. C., Oct. 1870.
The two bolls sent appear to have been pierc
ed by the Ml worm —if so, that would explain
their rotting.—Eds. 80. Cult.
417