even higher aiilliority.* This is false as a gen- 

 eral proposition, and only true concerning loca- 

 tions. The coarsest Cottons known in com- 

 merce, excejit some from Peru, between 5° and 

 15-^ south, which are of a dark hue, and as 

 coarse as the wool of sheep, are the Bengal, 24° 

 north, and the Surat, 21^ 10' north ; the finest, 

 and in all oilier respects the best. Cottons are 

 produced on the Sea-Islands of South Carolina, 

 I')-' beyond the Tropic of Cancer. To the lat- 

 ter, as well as those of the Isle of France, 20^ 9' 

 south, Dacca, 23^ 55' north, and Egypt, about 

 3U^ north, the Cotton of Guiana, within 5-^ of 

 tlie Ecjuator, is decidedly inferior. The w^orst 

 native Cotton in the east grows in Java. 7^ 

 south. The Cottons of South America m the hot- 

 test region, it is true, are of a better quality than 

 those of the Levant ; on the other hand, some 

 of the West India kinds are lower in value 

 than the green seed varieties of this country. 

 These, too, as is especially the case in our State, 

 oft-times grow within a few miles of the long- 

 staple Cotton, and in certain localities side by 

 side ; yet the best sorts of the latter are \\ orth 

 eight hundred per cent, more than the best sorts 

 of the former. So much for the effect of climate 

 on the fibre of Cotton, in opposition to the gra- 

 dation of the French Philosopher's .system, 

 ^Vith regard to the color of Cotton, the yellow- 

 ish hue of which is indicative of fineness, climate 

 has but an inconsiderable effect. The Cottons 

 on the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia are 

 tinged, and some varieties deeply, -vrnh yellow, 

 while the inland districts of those States, and 

 their more southern neighbors, as far as the Red 

 Kiver, produce Cotton of great whiteness, and 

 far inferior in strength and fineness. A portion 

 of the AVest India Cotton is of a cream color; 

 and some from India is represented to have "a 

 slight tinge of Aurora." The Cottons of Bengal, 

 Ma<lras and Sural, of Smyrna, Cyprus, Salonica, 

 and all parts of the Levant, are distinguished by 

 their want of color — this is also said of Siam, 

 famous for its nankeen. The Dacca Coltont is 

 deeply colored, and, although it is consumed in 

 that Province, and consequently unknown in 

 commerce, still, from an examination! of the 

 muslin, denominated, in hyperbolical language, 

 " vi-ebs o*" woven v.ind," and " which can hard- 

 ly be felt when expanded," it has been satisfac- 

 torily ascertained to be of a coarser fibre than 

 the better qualities of our Cottons, grown near 

 the ocean. While a pound of that Cotton, in a 

 single thread, would extend to the distance only 

 of ll.'i miles, 2 furlongs, and 60 yards. Cotton 

 Yarn is spun in England, making 3.")0 hanks to 

 the pound weight, each hank measuring 640 

 yards, and the whole forming a thread fo 167 

 miles in length.^ Farther, 420 hanks certainly, 



* Rees's Encyclopaedia — ai-ticle Cotton. 



t A variety of the common herbaceous annual Cot- 

 ton of hidia. [Bailies, p. 62. 



I This was made by Sir Joseph Banks in hidia, who 

 used the following languaee on the occasion J "The 

 portion of skein which Mr. Williams gave to me 

 weished 34 3-lOths f;rains : its length was 5 yards 7 

 inches, and it consisted of 196 threads. Consequent- 

 ly its whole length was 1018 yards and 7 inches. 

 This, with a small allowance for fractions, gives 29 

 yards to a gr.iin. 203,000 to a pound avoirdupois of 

 7,000 grains ; that is, 115 miles, 2 furlongs, and 60 

 yards." [Baini:s,p.59. 



§ The value of Cotton Yam is estimated liy its 

 length, and is numbered so as to determine the num- 

 ber of hanks requisite to weiih one piund. One 

 pound of No. 100 contains 81.000 yards. " The ex- 

 treme of fineness.'' says Mr. Baines, in liis work on the 

 Cotton Manufactures of Great Britain, published in 

 (591) 



and, it is asserted, from 480 to .500 hanks per 

 pounii, have been spun in Manchester \%itii Cot- 

 ton from South Carolina — thus jiclding a thread 

 from 197 to over 238 miles long. 



The valuable properties* of Cotton Wool in 

 their relative order are strength, fineness, length, 

 evenness and freedom from knots and entangle- 

 ments. The .superiority of our Sea Island Cot- 

 ton over all other kinds,t is owing to their fibres 

 being " spiral springs, singularly adapted to the 

 spiiming process, readily entwining with, and 

 sliding over, each other, during the formation of 

 a thread with an ea.sy elastic force. The fila- 

 ments of these Cottons vary from one to " two 

 •' inches, and in breadth from 1-loOOth to l-3000Ui 

 of an inch."t 



But to return to the subject of our comments. 

 Disjouval's theory is opposed to analogical rea- 

 soning. Nature is bountiful in all her works, 

 but these are not bestowed with the hand of fa- 

 voritism. For poverty of soil, man is blessed 

 with health and the uninterrupted exercise of 

 all his faculties. Where the land is fertile, and 

 teems with a variety of rich gifts, disease is the 

 inseparable concomitant. If certain products 

 ,gro\v more luxuriantly in the warmest latitudes, 

 the quality of tho.se products improves as you 

 recede from the Equator, until a point is reacjied 

 where retrocession takes place, and some other 

 plant is substituted. This is especially true of 

 Cotton. In the exceptions which apparently 

 militate against the general proposition, you still 

 find its truth maintained in the absence of things 

 essential to the cultivator's physical or moral 

 well-being. \ 



To presence tlie properties of Cotton, remark- 

 able for production or quality, annual selection,s, 

 it is here necessary to repeat, are personally 



1835, ■' to which yaras for muslins are ever spun in 

 England, is 250 hanks to the pound, which would 

 yield a thread measuring 119i miles. A pound of 

 line Cotton, manufactured into the tinest lace, is 

 worth from 8 to 15 guineas, and has been sold as 

 high as 100 guineas." 



[M'Culloch's Com. Die. — article Lace. 



*■ Unlike that of flax, which is vitreous, the lustre 

 of Cotton, observes Dr. Ure, is pearly. The flax 

 fibre is straight and jointed like cane, but that of 

 Cotton Js either twisted right and left, or coiled like 

 a corkscrew. 



t Ten years ago, the difference between the staple 

 of our Sea-Island Cotton and that of Egypt, Brazil, 

 and some of the West India sorts, was about 20 per 

 cent, in favor of the fonner. Owing to a more fa- 

 vorable climate, superior husbandry, and the raising 

 of su])crfine qualities, the ditt'erence may now be "j."!- 

 timated at from 30 to .50 per cent, and over, if t?re 

 silkiest kinds be mcluded. See Note F. in the Ap- 

 pendix. 



J Though these Cottons are so much supeiior to 

 that of Dacca, yet the skillful English weaver, sup- 

 ])0ilRd hy the triumphant results of mechanical sci- 

 ence, is unable to compete with the feeble hand of 

 the Hindoo in the manufactin-e of a certain class of 

 goods. This is ascribable to the remarkable acute- 

 ness of external sense, particularly of touch, and the 

 flexibility of the fingers of the people of that region ; 

 '■ the high esrimation in which the calling of the 

 weaver is held ; and the confining of the production 

 of jieculiar kinds of cloth to peculiar districts, in 

 which they have been fabricated from generation to 

 geneiation," In former days, from 900 lbs. to 1,000 

 lbs. in the seed were necessary to yield .300 lbs. or 

 one bag of ginned Cotton. Now. in reference to our 

 better qualities, it requires from 5 lbs. to 7 lbs. of the 

 former to make one of the latter. Although a still 

 finer Cotton, it is experimentally known, can be 

 grown, yet, from the poverty of its product, it is be- 

 lieved tliat the point of perfection, as far as a profita- 

 ble culture is concerned, has been reached. 



