236 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



This disease made its appearance as early as 1810, and prevailed more or less, for more 

 than ten years, throughout the South, and occasionally to such an extent in some districts as 

 almost to cause the abandonment of the cotton culture ; a contingency prevented by the intro- 

 duction of the Tennessee green-seed variety, which was exempt from the disease, or much 

 less affected by it than the naked black-seed variety first cultivated. For many years subse- 

 quently the rot was unheard of; its partial and unfrequent occurrence being too inconsider- 

 able to create alarm, or occasion any appreciable injury. Its reappearance in 1S52 and the 

 season of 1853-4 has, however, on many plantations, been attended with considerable damage. 



The remaining disease, popularly known as the sore-shin, attacks the plant in its early 

 stages. If not wholly destroyed, the bark of the stem becomes diseased and hardened, and the 

 sap vessels dried up or obstructed, at or near the surface of the ground. The disease is preva- 

 lent during the occurrence of the cold nights of a wet and backward spring. To this causo 

 it is attributed, and maybe owing, in some degree, to the plant-louse, (apis pauceron,} which 

 prevails most in such seasons. The growth of the young plant so affected is languid and slow ; 

 and although the damaged epidermis may be repaired and overgrown by a new bark, it is ques- 

 tionable whether the plant ever becomes as vigorous and prolific as those which have not sus- 

 tained this injury. The cause of this malady too early planting suggests the proper remedy. 



The casting of the forms or germs of the boll, may also, perhaps, be regarded as a disease 

 attendant on a deranged circulation in the plant, owing to an unequal and irregular supply 

 of moisture. It is manifested most generally upon a sudden transition from a very dry to a 

 very wet season, and is consequently so far without remedy ; it is, however, doubtless some- 

 times occasioned or aggravated by injudicious cultivation. Wailes 1 s First Report on the Geology 

 of Mississippi. 



On the Consumption and Manufacture of Cotton. 



IN 1749, some good people in or near Boston organized a society for the "promotion of 

 industry and economy," the wars preceding that period having introduced a habit of idleness 

 among the people, which the strong religious sentiment of the early settlers determined to 

 discourage and rebuke. On the occasion of their anniversary in 1753, three hundred females 

 of Boston assembled on the Common, with their spinning-wheels, and gave a demonstration 

 of their skill in the art of using them. They were neatly attired in cloth of their own manu- 

 facture, and a great crowd of spectators collected to witness the scene. This was the first 

 public exhibition of American manufactures, and probably produced as much good and more 

 excitement than those of later days. 



In 1787, the first cotton-mitten Massachusetts was erected at Beverly, by John Cabot and 

 others ; but such were their difficulties, that in three years they were almost compelled to aban- 

 don the enterprise. As a last resort, they petitioned the legislature for assistance, and the 

 committee to whom the subject was referred reported in favor of granting them one thousand 

 pounds sterling, to be raised by a lottery ! 



In 1786, two Scotch brothers, named Robert and Alexander Barr, erected carding and spin- 

 ning machines for Mr. Orr, at East Bridgewater, Mass., which was considered of such import- 

 ance that the legislature, to reward their ingenuity and encourage machinists, "made them 

 a grant of 200, and afterwards added to their bounty by giving them six tickets in the State 

 Land Lottery, in which there were no blanks !" 



rately, in alternate rows, for experiment, the most tender and succulent varieties, which would naturally first 

 invite the attacks of insects, were those most damaged, while the more hardy and firmly-wooded remained unin- 

 jured. The increase of these maladies may probably be traced in some measure to the extirpation or disappear- 

 ance of birds, owing chiefly to the destruction of the forests, leaving them in a degree without protection or 

 shelter. 



A beneficent Providence, In the economy of nature, designed these little winged scavengers for useful purposes. 

 To restrain the exuberance of insert life is their peculiar office; and so long as they are preserved and protected, 

 their office is effectually performed. If man wantonly, and with mistaken impressions as to the extent and cha- 

 racter of their depredations, will d< stroy them, he must make his account in submitting to ravages of a more for- 

 midable kind, and which may baflle his ingenuity to prevent. This lesson has been taught with a heavy cost, 

 nowhere, perhaps more clearly than on the rice plantations of the South, where the planters would now gladly 

 woo back the little denizens of the air, which they have frightened away or destroyed. 



