COTTON. 203 



ton, and even those who are most strenuous against the 

 heating, admit it bore a better price." The cotton is then 

 ginned and baled, when it is ready for market. 



Topping Cotton between the 20th July and 20th August 

 is practiced by many planters with decided success. It is 

 generally considered highly beneficial in dry seasons, but 

 not in wet, and that in three years out of five it is attended 

 with particular advantage to the crop. 



SEA-ISLAND COTTON. 



This crop is raised on the islands and low lands that bor- 

 der the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. If removed 

 from this locality, the fibre seems immediately to degene- 

 rate. It requires, in many respects, a treatment unlike that 

 of the upland. I insert an article by Thomas Spalding, 

 Esq., an experienced and intelligent planter, who has long 

 been engaged in its cultivation : " The Sea-Island cotton 

 was introduced into Georgia from the Bahamas. The seed 

 was from a small island near St. Domingo, known as Ar- 



fuilla, then producing the bestcotton of the western world, 

 t in no way resembles the Brazil cotton, which is the 

 kidney-seed kind, introduced some years later, and which, 

 after trial, was rejected in Georgia. It came in small par- 

 cels from the Bahamas, in the winter of 1785 ; and gradually 

 made its way along the coast of Georgia, and passed into 

 Carolina. The winter of 1786 in Georgia was a mild one, 

 and although the plants of the Sea-Island that year had not 

 ripened their seed, it being a perennial, and subject only to 

 be killed by frost, it started the next season from the roots 

 of the previous year, its seed ripened, and the plants became 

 acclimated. Many changes have come over this seed since 

 that time, from difference of soil, culture, and local position, 

 and above all, from careful selection of seed. But the 

 cause is yet to be discovered, why the gain in finenses of 

 wool, is lost in the quality and weight of the product ; for 

 in spite of a zeal and intelligence brought to act upon the 

 subject without parallel, the crops are yearly diminishing, 

 until to grow Sea-Island cotton is one of the most profitless 

 pursuits within the limits of the United States. 



Planting. When the first seed was introduced, it was 

 planted in hills prepared upon the level field, at five feet 

 each way ; but it was soon found to be a very tender plant, 

 liable to suffer by storms, by wind, by drought, and by ex- 

 cess of rain. The quantity of seed was therefore increased, 



