'25'1 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



I have statements without number of the value 

 ofappies for feedinp^ swine. In one case the gain 

 upon ravv apples was 11 pounds weight in 12 days ; 

 and in this case nothini^exceptingappies was used. 

 The best form of using them seems to be to boil 

 them with potatoes ; and it is recommended by 

 several liirmerri in this case to put the apples at 

 the bottom of the kettle ; and the potatoes become 

 thus impregnated with their flavor. This compa- 

 ratively new use and value of apples may be pro- 

 nounced a great discovery of the most bene- 

 ficial character. Many iarmers, not accustomed 

 to speak lightly, pronounce them of equal value as 

 potatoes for the fatting of swine, tor milch cows, 

 and for beef cattle. 1 can answer for tlie human 

 animal. There is no food more healthful or more 

 nutritious, in reasonable quantities, than apples, 

 cooked or raw. A dish of baked apples and pure 

 milk is of all others the most delicious to ths una- 

 dulterated taste; and the fyee use of apples and 

 milk, in place of the miserable slops of tea and 

 coffee, would give to the young bipeds of the 

 family vigorous bodies and bright minds; abate a 

 large item in domestic expenses; and prevent a 

 taste for the two greatest and unalleviated curses 

 with which humanity was ever visited, tobacco 

 and rum. 



THE TWIN, OR OKRA COTTON. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Columbia, March 26th, 1839. 



I have a new species of cotton, of which [ will 

 some (lay try and give you an account. I know 

 too little yet to venture to give any thing for the 

 public ; but I will give you a very short account of 

 what I do know. 



A Mr. Terry, of Autauga county, Alabama, 

 some years ago, bought some Petit Gulf seed. A 

 Bingle stalk was observed in a field, without limbs, 

 and having great numbers of bolls adhering im- 

 mediately to the stalk, or in clusters on very short 

 limbs. The cotton had all been picked out except 

 a single lock with nine seeds. From these seeds 

 the variety has been propagated. The seed sold 

 in 1837, at 50 cents a [)iece'. Last fltll 1 bought at 

 8160, a bushel. The cotton exammed by me ex- 

 hibited a distinct variety. It had rarely any limbs 

 longer than one joint, sometimes two ; the bolls 

 were two, thi-ee, and as much as seven in a clus- 

 ter. I had one limb about four inches long, with 

 seven good bolls u[iened on it. The stems of all 

 of the bolls shooting from one place, at the top of 

 the short limb. The cotton was exceedingly fine, 

 being, I think, tv/o to four cents a pound" better ; 

 being in color and staple the finest and softest 

 short staple I have ever seen. It opens earlier. 

 The field 1 examineii was planted the 20th April. 

 A very intelligent gentleman, living in the neiirh- 

 borhood, told me he planted similar land on The 

 Ist of April, and that the new cotton was open 

 two weeks earlier than hi?. It grows in sood land 

 quite tall, say six or eight feet ; and in this I fear, 

 will be the greatest objection to it, as it may fall 

 when heavily fruited towards the top ; but perhaps 

 this may be avoided by topping. Its advantage to 

 an Alabama planter, if it succeeds in rich prairie 

 lands, will ba its early operiiijg, by which the worm 



will be avoided, a terrible enemy, which has eaten 

 up full one-third of my crops for five years. The 

 appearance of the stalk is titorelike okra than any 

 other — the leaf being a cotton leaf. If the "hum- 

 bug" succeeds, I value it more than multicaulis, 

 and will give you an account at some day. In the 

 mean time, I remain very trulv. 



Yours, F. H. Elmore. 



Greene, ^la., j^pril 11, 1839. 

 Though Virginia is not a cotton growing state, 

 and you consequently cannot leel the same imme- 

 diate interest in our southern staple that you do 

 in many other productions of the soil belter suit- 

 ed to your climate, still, li-om the position you 

 occupy before the agricultural public, and the in- 

 terest you naturally feel in all things connected 

 with the subject of agriculture, I flatter myselfi a 

 {qw seeds of a variety of cotton recently brought 

 into notice, which I take the liberty of forwarding 

 you, will not prove unacceptable. It is styled the 

 ''twin" or "Aldridge" cotton, taking its first ap- 

 pellation from the peculiar manner in which the 

 branches originate from the stalk, I think, (for I 

 have never seen it growing ;) its second fi-om the 

 name of the gentleman who brought it before the 

 public. Whence or how it originated seems to be 

 a matter of doubt. Some saying that it acciden- 

 tally, as it were, sprung up in a cotton field of Mr. 

 Aldridge, the seed of which he carefully preserv- 

 ed — others that it was brought from Louisiana — 

 &c. &c. All this is conjectural, and though evin- 

 cing a pardonable curiosity, has but little to do 

 with the intrinsic advantages of the article. Yet 

 these have not been so fairly tested as positively 

 to be determined. Those claimed lor it, however, 

 are its being better able to stand the efl'ects of a 

 drought, not casting the squares, however severe 

 this may be; and from the extreme shortness of 

 its branches, it will bear much closer planting; 

 which, connected with the fruitfulness of each in- 

 dividual plant, render it a much more prolific va- 

 riety than others. It is not contended that the 

 staple is of a very superior quality. 'Tis said to 

 grow with great rapiditj'. From its recent origin, 

 small beginning, and the price of ihe seed, fifty 

 cents n piece, only, its cultivation has been quite 

 limited ; and further experience is required to de- 

 cide its fiite. Whether it will eventually prove 

 that it has been brought into notice, as the price 

 would seem to indicate, for purposes of specula- 

 tion, like many other articles, will ere long be de- 

 termined. Yet, it is a singular variety, and I wish 

 I could send you more of tlie seed, that you might 

 give it a more extended test in Virginia ; but I 

 spare you more than half of a small parcel which 

 a friend has just given me. There is no peculiari- 

 ty attending its cultivation : and your climate no 

 doubt is sufficiently favorable to promise success 

 to your experiment — or, if it fail, it will be so limi- 

 ted as not to create any very serious shock. 



The two foregoing extracts fi-om private letters, 

 seem to refer to the same new variety of cotton; 

 and as each correspondent enclosed a kw of the 

 seeds, we shall be enabled to rear and compare the 

 plants. Deeming the information as not only cu- 

 rious and interesting, but as promising much value 

 to the agricultural interests of the south, we wrote 

 immediately to ask leave of the first correspondent 



