AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 239 



In reference to the consumption of cotton in the country, the past year, both north and 

 south, it will be seen that it has fallen off, although the production has been pretty nearly 

 the same : this may be accounted for, primarily, by the partial failure of the crops of cereals 

 in 1854, the consequent high prices of breadstuffs and provisions, and the general pressure 

 for money felt by all classes in all sections of the country. 



The quantity of nexo cotton received at the shipping ports to the 1st of September, amounted 

 to 34,069 bales, against 1890 last year, 716 in 1852-3, and 5125 the year before. Thus, 

 it will be seen that the quantity of new cotton received at the ports to the 1st of September 

 this year, is largely in excess of last year ; but it is an admitted fact, that at that date, there 

 remained of last year's crop (detained in the interior by low rivers, caused by an unprece- 

 dented drought) a very large quantity — say 250,000 bales ; some estimates are a little lower, 

 but others even higher ; and had the cotton thus detained been brought to market, and added 

 to last year's crop, it would have approximated the great crop of 1852-3; as it is, it will 

 doubtless soon come forward, and materially swell the aggregate for 1855-6, should not a 

 similar state of things exist next season. 



The value of American cotton exported in 1854 amounted to $93,596,220; of this, 

 §64,738,391 was exported to Great Britain, with the exception of a very small quantity to 

 Ireland. 



Sea-Island Cotton from Algeria. 



At the Great Industrial Exhibition at Paris, samples of Sea-Island cotton from Algeria 

 were exhibited, which, in the opinion of good judges from the United States, were equal to 

 any in the world. It has been supposed that this long-stapled cotton would grow nowhere 

 else than on our Southern coast, and vigorous attempts to naturalize it in the Inches have 

 proved failures ; yet it grows luxuriantly on certain slopes of Mount Atlas, where the exist- 

 ence of salt springs is supposed to favor its perfection — the underlying mountain being com- 

 posed in good part of salt. 



Sea-Island Cotton in Texas. 



The Galveston News states that Sea-Island cotton is successfully cultivated in several parts 

 of the State, and that there is a general disposition at various places, from Gonzales to the 

 Gulf, to go into the cultivation of this description of cotton. Not less than one thousand 

 acres, the News is informed, will this year be cultivated with this cotton in Western Texas. 



Sea-Island Cotton for Spinning. 



The following is an extract from a letter of T. Bayley, President of the Manchester Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, to George M. Sanders, formerly United States Consul at London, respect- 

 ing the assortment of Sea-Island cotton : 



"To the simple question, 'Do the manufacturers of Sea-Island cotton assort it by the lock?' 

 I can give the positive reply that they do not, nor would it, upon an extensive or practical 

 scale, be possible for them to do so. The spinners of the fine Sea-Island cotton, of course, 

 esteem the longest-stapled cotton as the best, and in all their processes they get rid of as much 

 short fibre as they can, and preserve unimpaired all the long fibres. Essentially, the art of 

 the cotton-spinner consists of disentangling the fibres of cotton, in freeing these from all 

 extraneous substances and impurities, in securing the longest fibres, in obtaining them of equal 

 length, and finally placing them parallel, so that they will freely and evenly pass each other 

 into a line of yarn or thread, in the subsequent progress of elongation. 



"From my own knowledge, the cotton of Florida is an excellent and desirable quality for 

 the spinner, but it has been sent to market in a ' craply' or knotty condition, which has greatly 

 diminished its value. I have seen Florida cotton cleaned and prepared by the McCarthy gin, 

 and which cotton, I believe, has been increased in value by that preparation to the extent of 

 twenty per cent. That his gin, applied to Florida cotton, would be a great advantage, does 

 not admit of a doubt. 



"If the cotton-planter would always recollect that the spinners require only pure, even, 

 and disentangled fibres, I have no doubt he would save himself much trouble, and increase 



