488 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 8 



saving of labor, besides doing the work infinitely 

 better tiaan in the old way. 



From the Mining Journal. 

 ANTI-DRY-ROT PROCESS. 



The advantage arising from the application of 

 Kyan's process for the preservation of timber, has 

 been so generally acknowledged, and has been so 

 well tested by experience, that its general intro- 

 duction in the mining districts, is one of the natu- 

 ral consequences attendant on its success. It is 

 now some months since it was first introduced in 

 Cornwall, where its use is becoming very general; 

 indeed, when the expense of timbering, shafts, 

 and other uses to which limber is applied in 

 mineg, and the heavy cost attendant on works of 

 this nature is considered, its importance must be 

 apparent. In rail-way undertakings it is also 

 adopted; and we learn with much satisfaction, 

 that Earl Fitzwilliam has also ordered iis use in 

 the mines possessed by his lordship. This addi- 

 tional evidence of the estimation in which it is 

 held, will, we feel assured, be hailed with satisfac- 

 tion by all who take an interest in scientific disco- 

 veries like the present, and which, in the onset, 

 had so much to contend with, not only from popu- 

 lar prejudice, but from the necessity of testing it 

 by some years' experience. 



From the Southern Telegraph. 

 MEXICO-KGYPTIAN COTTON. 



A few days since we accidentally saw a very 

 small quantity of the Mexico-Egyptian cotton, 

 produced the present season on the plantation of 

 the late Dr. Nutt, near this place. We were much 

 pleased with the evident superiority of the article, 

 and solicited* an account of the experiments by 

 which this superiority was obtained. We are 

 happy that our solicitations have elicited the very 

 interesting letter which follows, and to which we 

 invite the attention of our readers — especially that 

 portion of them who are engaged in the produc- 

 tion of our great staple. We have in our otRce, 

 some specimens of this new article of cotton, 

 which we will take great pleasure in showing to 

 all who feel sufficient interest or curiosity to call 

 upon us ; and we hope there will be many such. 



Messrs. Editors : You requested me to give 

 you the result of an experiment instituted by the 

 late Dr. Nutt, with the view of improvinir the 

 growth of our cotton, by crossing it with that of 

 Egypt. I cannot, as yet, give you the result, as 

 the experiment cannot be fully carried out, until 

 we have gathered the small crop of Egyptian 

 cotton planted last spring; after which I may be 

 able to show you what amount per acre it will 

 produce, and to note particularly the relative ad- 

 vantages to be expected from the Mexican and 

 Egyptian cotton. So far the experiment can only 

 prove interesting to the curious. When we are 

 more fully convinced of its usefulness, I will then 

 inform you of the further progress of the inves- 

 tigation. 



I learned from Dr. Nutt, that the cotton of the 



* Dr. New. 



Nile seldom grows higher than three feet, that the 

 bowls are small, and have only three compartments, 

 containing as many locks of cotton. The Mexi- 

 can cotton, as it grows with us, differs in each ol 

 these particulars. The stalk grows much higher ; 

 the bowls are larger, and usually have Jive com- 

 partments. 



That these two varieties of cotton do cross when 

 approximated, admits of no doubt when we have 

 examined the new product, which is an amalga- 

 tion of qualities peculiar to the Egyptian and Mexi- 

 can, yet ditiering from both. 



The seed Dr. Nutt brought from Egypt, was 

 planted in a line contiguous to the Mexican cot- 

 ton ; the seed procured from these stalks were 

 planted the Ibllowing year, from which was ob- 

 tained seed enough for something like an acre of 

 ground — the subject of our present remarks. 



This cotton was planted on the 14th of April, 

 three weeks after the usual time. The conse- 

 quence of this is, that it is still growing, and but 

 very tew bowls as yet have opened ; and although 

 the cotton on this place, as well as in the neigh- 

 borhood, has suffered serious injury by the shed- 

 ding of /orms and boivls, yet this looks healthy 

 and is weighed down by its rich burden. 



The Mexico- Egyptian cotton as it now appears, 

 has two or more stalks, measuring in circumfer- 

 ence from eight to ten inches. These stalks have 

 innumerable branches, which are larger than the 

 stalks of common cotton growing in like situations. 

 The stalks of each plant attain a common height, 

 say from six to twelve feet. The branches grow 

 erect, and these have arms that extend three or 

 four feet horizontally ; at every joint there is a 

 blossom, square or bowl. Mr. H. Nutt had the 

 curiosity to count them last summer. He found 

 upon a single plant, five hundred. There is a 

 plant now near the house, which, if any one had 

 the patience to count, may be found as many well- 

 formed howls. The peculiarity of its blossom, is 

 worthy of notice, which is a beautilijl bright buff- 

 color. The bowls have but four compartments, 

 a feature given it by a compromise between its 

 progenitors. The fibre of this cotton, (a sample of 

 which I send you,) it will be readily seen, is longer, 

 possessing greater strength — the color, Mariet, 

 less bleached, approaching somewhat the much 

 desired " cream-color,'- and that its texture is finer 

 than the Mexican. This sample, you will mark 

 too, was picked from a fi^w bowls, the first to open, 

 and that the seed were torn out by the fingers. 

 You can conceive how much more beautiful it will 

 appear when its second picking is ginned. 



It is a fiict, well attested by naturalists, that sub- 

 jects of the vegetable, as well as the animal king- 

 dom, when made to procreate from their respective 

 species or families, degenerate. In a few years, 

 the Mexican cotton of the Gulf Hills, which has 

 so long occupied such enviable pre-eminence, 

 may lose that proud title, and become as inferior 

 as the black seed that preceded the intioduction of 

 the Mexican. Another fact may suggest to the 

 planter the necessity of making some attempt to 

 improve the culture of cotton in the Hills. You 

 know, gentlemen, that land, wdiich for a series of 

 years, has produced a certain grain or crop, will 

 become tired, and refuse at last to bear that crop 

 any longer ; that by changing the crop or alter- 

 nating it with another, thus resting it in some de- 

 gree, that its capability to produce will again be 



