1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



64S 



quire din ami saiui by carelessly tossinij it iiboui on i dent desire to improve tiiis very valuable plant 



riuw pervades India ; both the pnil and clinmle of 

 u'hicb seem so admirably ralculatrd to brinff it to 

 a periection it has by no means hitherto attained 

 there. Indeed, we hwe Htt!e doubt that, with 

 proper care and cultivation, the cotton of India 

 mav be made to compcic with the American, and 

 rendered fit ibr the English market — a circum- 

 stance which would be extremely beneficial for 

 both countrii'p, as we might receive all our raw 

 material from the East, and, throuch the aid of 

 our admirable machinery, return it to them again 

 in the shape of cloths of our varied manufacture. 



the ground when separaliiiij ihe seed. In Amt 

 rica this is obviated by the tree? being plantekl in 

 rows at considerable disiances, so that, in gather- 

 ing it, none of the dried leaves are brushed oli' 

 among liie fine fibres ol'ihe cotton. 



Byluloptuiir this mode, and by usin<r machines 

 far cleaning the cotton Irom the seed, tiiere can be 

 liiile doubt that the .staple and fineness of the In- 

 dian cotton might be; so much improved as again 

 to fit it Ibr the English market, and com[)ete with 

 the An\erican. '' Tliousands and thousands of 

 acres," says Mr. Graham, " black as ink, and of 

 inexhaustible iertilily, lie a perfect waste on the 

 plains, betwixt any two villages in the Deccan, all 

 capable of producing cotton and other i roducis 

 available to the wants of man. Labor is also so re- 

 markably cheap, that in Guzerat a man is hired, 

 not including his food, lor the small sum of £3 per 

 annum. In the Decc;\n, according to the reports 

 of Lieutenant Colonel Sykes, the average is about 



£3 12s.''* 



As conslitutinir the material of the prmcipal ma- 

 nufacture of India, cotton ranks next in import- 

 ance to rice, its staple grain. We have already 

 hinted that the quality of that at present raised by 

 no means equals that either of Brazil or of North 

 America; yet it is reasonable to suppose, in a 

 countr_v where the cotton-tree in such varieties; 

 grows spontaneously, and in such luxuriance, that 

 a due attention paid to its cuittvation would soon 

 render the product superior to that of countries not 

 so con<renial to it. In reference to this article, tlie 

 late Sir John Malcolm, that enthusiastic benefac- 

 tor of India, inform us, that, " deeming this a sub- 

 ject of much national importance, I not only gave 



it my attention in India, but have continued to do 



so in England. I visi'ed Manchester, and have 



communicated with all from whom I could obtain 



information calculated to promote the object. The 



result has been a conviction that a much greater 



proportion of the trade in this maierial than India 



now enjoys may, with care and manasement, be 



obtained to that country, a result which will prove 



equally beneficial to it and England." Speaking 



of the Bourbon cotton, Mr. Si'llivan also says, that 



" all that is wanting to evince the extended cultiva- 

 tion of thts species of cotton, which is superior to 



most of the American uplands, is the judicious ap- 



plication of a laroe capital. A steady encouroi^e- ^,^ ^,^^^j,i^,,, ^^^^- .^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^,^,^,-^^^ ^e 



ment o the staple vyould be one of the greatest he- | .^ ^^^^, ^^^^,^ ^^ ^^^ ^j,^^ ^j. farrowin-, and after they 



nehis that England could confer upon ner Indian v,„,:„ i;tt„^o,i ;t ;= ->h=r,i„t«i,r r,o^o««r.r,r ttint tti^v 



empire." It may be remembered by some tlxat 



From tlio Complete Grazier (late edition.) 

 OIV THE BREEDING AND REARING OF PIGS. 



Swine are capable of propagation at eig:ht or nine 

 montlis ; but the boarshoidd be at least twelve monthsf 

 old before he is admitted to the sow, which will far- 

 row a stronger and better litter, if she be kept to tlie 

 same age. The period of gestation is from seventeen 

 to twenty weeks;* when from five to ten, or more 

 pifs, are produced : one boar should not be allowed to 

 serve more than ten sows ; and tfiose sow« are rec- 

 koned the best for breeding strong pigs which have 

 about ten or twelve paps. 



Where swine are kept solelj' for the purpose of 

 breeding:, it is necessary to pay the same attention to 

 the principle of selection as in other articles of live 

 stock. Hence, whatever sort may be required, the 

 boar and sow should respectively be chosen as perfect 

 in symmetry, and all other requisites as maybe practi- 

 cable ; for the value of the progeny will mainly 

 depend on the qualities of the sire and dam, and stock 

 can never be raised with so much profit from inferior 

 as from superior animals. They should afeo be well 

 kept, in order to produce the necessary stimulus to co- 

 ition ; but, as with other cattle, care must be taken 

 that sows, when ex]iected to take the boar, be not too 

 fat; experience having shown that, if they be in very 

 high order, they wdll not produce an abundant litter of 

 pigs. 



As some will produce two litters in the year, 

 the breeder will find it beneficial so to arrange 

 each time of farrowing, that it may take place about 

 the latter end of March or early in April, and towards 

 the beginning or end of August : thus he will be en- 

 abled "to rear them with le.ss cost, and certainly 

 with less probability of -losing the pigs from cold wea- 

 the*-. than if they were produced late in autumn. 

 While the sows are in pig, they will require to 



it was the produce of th.is plant which sold in the 

 London market, in 1830, at Sd. per pound, and 

 which, if a sufficient quantity could have been ob- 

 tained, would, in the opinion of brokers, have re- 

 alized 9d. From the number of valuable papers 

 on the subject in the last volume of the Atrricultu- 

 ral Transactions of India, t it is evident that an ar- 



* Means of Ameliorating India, pp. C6-7. 



t We particularly allude to the Papers on the Culti- 

 vation of Cotton, by Baboo Radhakant D,>b. On the 

 Culture of Cotton in Ihe Dooab and Bundclkund, by 

 W. Vincent,. Esq. On the Artificial Production of 

 New Varieties of Cotton, by H. Piddington, Esq. 

 Method of Preserving the Cotton Plant in Cayenne. 

 Remarks on the Cotton of Ava, by Major Burnej'. 

 On the Cotton of Cadiar, by Captain Fisher. On the 

 "~ - _ - - - On the Culture of 



have littered, it is absolutely necessary that they 

 he regularly fed; for if the young pigs are deprived of 

 their proper nourishijient while suckins:. they will ne- 

 ver arrive at the weisrht they would otheiwise attain. 

 Thev should also be kept well littered and clean ; but 

 at pijTgirg should not be allowed too much, as they are 

 rspt to overlay their pias in it, for the first week.f At 

 the end of aweek or ten days after hr.ving farrowed, 

 the}' may be let out of their styes into their yard, for 

 three or four hours during the middle of the day, in or- 



* Aceordliiff to IVT. Teis'sier's obpervafion on the ffestfitlon of 

 animals, already nilnded to in our preccdinc reniaiks on the 

 nftier l:inds, tlie extreme gestations of 25 sows were 109 and 



, 1 -todays. 



j From tlie whole of his observation?. M. Teissier infer.'!, that 



I the period of ^nstation is extrenicly variable in every species ; 

 and that its proloufrai ion does not seem to depend either upon 



I the age or constitution of the female, or upon the diet, breed, 

 or season ; or, in short, upon any ki.own cause. 



t In order to prevent such accidents, an open frame is some- 

 times pl;ici-d on eachsideof the sow under which the young pigs 

 can run, and thu^ escape the danger. A stron;; rail, elevated a 



Cotton of Dacca, by Dr. G. Lamb. 



Upland Georgia Cotton at Allahabad, by Mr. Higgins, I few inches from the jround, will answer the same purpose 



&.C., &c. 



