THE COTTON PLANT. 



221 



the benefits of snch acquisitions, I refused ofTers 

 of emolument, tliougli no terms forbidding' per- 

 sonal protit, were made. I gratuitously disjiers- 

 ed the breed, not only in Pennsylvania, but into 

 the neighboring States ; at no small trouble and 

 expense to mjself. Several victualers, finding 

 the superiority of the mutton over that of all 

 other sheep, both in quality and price, made up 

 a purse, and offered any sum I ehose to iix for 

 the Ram. I refused the proffer ; and after his 

 covering, during several seasons, great numbers 

 of ewes sent to my farm, and there pastured and 

 served without charge, he was convej'ed to my 

 late friend, Gen. Hand's farm, near Lancaster, 

 >vhere he ■svas killed by dogs, after propagating 

 the breed extensively. The ewe met the like 

 fate on my farm ; having yeaned a healthy Iamb 

 at sixteen years of age. 



Chancellor Livinc^ston's sale of two Merino 

 sheep for Si3000, gave impetus to the ardor which 

 had begun to operate in favor of that breed. Had 

 he given them away, the eftect would have been 

 far otherNvise, on the minds of both farmers and 

 speculators. Voilales hommes .' Fancy paints 

 profits in proportion to price paid. Small gains 

 are counted on gifts, or cheap purchases. 



Discovering the impolicy of continuing (how- 

 ever beneficial my distributions may, at first, 

 have been.) gratuitously to be.stow lamb.s. and 

 of my other modes of dispersing the breed with- 

 out charge ; I encouraged my neighbor, Thom- 

 as Bones, in raising fine Broad-tailed Sheep 

 from my stock, for sale on his own aJfcount. He 

 did groat justice to my confidence in him, and 

 sold considerable numbers ; many whereof, at 

 their request, I selected for the purchasers. — 

 Many were sent to SoiUh Carolina, as I men- 

 tion in our volume. The credit of, and de^naad 

 for the sheep, were really enhanced by the prices 

 paid for them ; though tho.se prices were mod- 

 erate indeed, compai-ed with those of Merinoes, 

 which overwhehiied the Tunisians, in public 

 opinion, during the Merino-fever. 



Countrj' people do not value an article given 

 away, presuming that it is held by tlie donor in 

 small estimation ; and in this they are not .sin- 

 gular. The usual short-sighted practice among 

 farmers, of selling to victuallers, or in the mar- 



ket, the best lambs and sheep, and keeping only 

 tho.^e unsaleable, deteriorated the breed most 

 lamentably. My tenants, who had the charge 

 of my flock, had their share in this culpable pro- 

 pensity. Several butchers posted breeders from 

 my stock in Jersey and Delaware. The proge- 

 ny were slaughtered ibr the mai-ket. This also 

 diminished the multiplication of the breed. Yet 

 I was surprised by the iuformatien I frequently 

 received, at the numbers produced from an oi-ig- 

 inal pair, even under circumstances not always 

 encouraging. 



I know of no other importation of Barbary 

 sheep, contemporaneous with the subjects of this 

 account. Long after the arrival of the pairmen- 

 tioricd, I was informed that Capt. Baron had 

 brought some hroad-tailcd coast sheep into Vir- 

 ginia. But from the accounts of them I had 

 heard, they ^vere inferior to the Mountain sheep 

 of Tunis ; and so are all other African sheep 

 which have fallen under my notice. The sheep 

 of the Eastern countries, Asia and Africa, are 

 generally, (with some exceptions) broadtailed. 



Many j-ears ago I saw in England, in the 

 King's flock at Richmond, several of the Lati- 

 caiidtc. Some of them with cumbrou.s trailing 

 tails, borne on little wheel carriages, dragged 

 after them. None of them, in appearance, equal 

 to the Tunis Mountain sheep. In my old, learn- 

 ed, and valuable work, — Scheuchzer's Physicn 

 sacra — there are plates, admirably executed, of 

 victims ibr the Jewish altars. Among them, 

 trailing broadtails similar to those I saw at Rich- 

 mond. So that there are many varieties of the 

 Lalicandw ; and the success of breeders en- 

 tirely depends on the selection of the valuably 

 kinds. 



The name, (as you seem to require it,) I gave 

 to the Ram, was Cararnr.Ui, that of the ewe, Se- 

 lima. They will, perhaps, become memorable 

 as the first emigrants to our country, from this 

 branch of the extensive family of the Laficanda: 



Not knowing exactly the object of your quer- 

 ies, I may have enlarged unnecessarily. But 

 you may gather what you deem satisfactory for 

 any purpose you contemplate. Yours ti'uly, 



RICHARD PETERS. 

 John S. Skinner, Esq. 



THE COTTON PL ANT.... ITS HISTORY AND USES. 



{Continued from page 181.) 



On its introduction into Georgia, the cultiva- 

 tion of long cotton was confined to the warm 

 high lands of the Sea-Islands : these portions of 

 the plantation are still everj-where preferred, 

 and ahnost invariably return the largest yield, 

 though their exhausted condition would seem to 

 invite the more general tillage of the lower 

 grounds. A few seed were either deposited in 

 .-small hills,* about five feet apart, each way, or 

 in holes made in the level land, separated at that 

 distance. The spaces between the hills or holes 

 were kept clean by the hand or hoe — the plow 

 then, as now, was but little used. From the veiy 

 limited number of plants that tliis plan insured, 



' The holes made in the ridges to receive the seed 

 are still sti-angely called " hills" by almost every 

 planter. 



(-173) 



it is manifest that, in despite of the natural fer- 

 tility cf the soil, the harvest must have been 

 meagre. Except in isolated instances, it rarely 

 equaled 100 lbs. to the acre, which, at four acres 

 per hand, gave but four hvindred pounds to tlie 

 hand. In 1794, a Bahama planter, who was 

 traveling for his health, arrived in Georgia : he 

 advised the growers to sow their cotton much 

 thicker. This advice was uidieeded by all, ex- 

 cept Thomas Spalding of Sapelo I.sland. then a 

 young man, and who has since largely contrib- 

 uted by precept an'd example to further the ag- 

 ricultural interests of his native State. He adopt- 

 ed in full the W^est India mode of drilling his 

 .seed along the ridge, and. by leaving the plants 

 about six inches apart, he realized from a field 

 of sixty acres, favored by a propitious sea.son, 

 the remarkable product of 340 lbs. of clean white 



