682 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. II 



consists solely of fine calcareous povvJer colored ' 

 vvilli a little vegetable mould, it is destroyed by a 

 fcio years exposure at\er clearing ; Ibr the mould is 

 soon decomposed by the sun, and the powder is 

 blown away by ihe wind. Yet fur the same rea- 

 son, that the perennial silk shrubs are adapted to 

 em ill cuhivaiors on these rocky islets, the peren- 

 nial cuitun shrubs, and the perennial hemp plants, 

 are also adapted to both. Eut my desire to have 

 every species and variety ol" cotton in a tropical 

 nursery are founded on the opinions of their ulti- 

 mate utility to the poorest soils of" the southern 

 states, expressed in the cited paragraph to the Sec- 

 retary of Slate. Had such a nursery existed 50 

 years ago, when every variety of cotton was glean- 

 ed ii-om the lour quarters of the globe, what ima- 

 gination can calculate the probable results of their 

 preservation, propagation, selection and improve- 

 ment, to the present date ! The Bourhon and the 

 Siam cottons would have had another and repeated 

 trials, until they too, like the sea island cotton, 

 might have adapted themselves to different cli- 

 mates and soils of the southern states. Indeed 

 the principal causes of the general lailures in al! 

 first trials to acclimate tropical plants may be traced 

 to the general practices of planting and protecting 

 them in icarm and rich soils. In Mexico, in the 

 state of Vera Cruz, near the village of Cosomolo- 

 apam, there grows a rose colored cotton, which Don 

 Domingo Barret, of Campeachy, assured me he 

 had personally seen ; but although during several 

 years I offered a doubloon Ibr a single pod, I was 

 never able to obtain a single seed. From Cam- 

 peachy I frequently transmitted to different ports 

 of the United States the " Algodon de vejuco" or 

 reported vine cotton of the stony hills in the in- 

 terior of Yucatan ; but know nothing of the re- 

 sults, unless they were contained in the loilowing 

 paragraph of the 'New York Evening Post' of 

 August 12ih, 1S35, extracted from the ' Charleston 

 Courier,' " Productive cotton. Two very tine speci- 

 mens of asea island cotton, grown on James Island, 

 have been left at this office Ibr inspection. This 

 plant shoots up in a kind of vine, and is exceeding- 

 ly productive, as testiffed by the numerous blos- 

 soms and pods which the specimens before us ex- 

 hibit." As the first parcel of these tnne cotton 

 seeds were Ihe only ones that I could obtain from 

 the interior of Yucatan, the balance brought with 

 me to Florida in 1837, had probably lost their vi- 

 tality during the intervening years, because not a 

 single seed has yet germinated, allhoui^h I have 

 made many trials. As the introduction and pro- 

 pagation o!' tropica! plants direct from the tropics, 

 cannot be accomplished by either private individu- 

 als or chartered companies so long as even our ar- 

 mies cannot afford proleciion to the persons or pur- 

 suits of agriculturists in southern Florida, and so 

 long as ports of entry be not established at or near 

 the southern extremiiics of the peninsula, my 

 time can be uselLilly employed only in making a 

 miniature collection of the very few tropical plants 

 or seeds, which may be obtained by the only op- 

 portunity offered by the monthly mail packet fiom 

 Charleston, S. C. I therefore respectliilly suggest 

 to the intelligent planters of the south thepropriety 

 of speedily procuring and transmitiing to me a 

 dozen seeds of each species and variety of col Ion, 

 for which I will leiurn to them any equivaleiii in 

 my power. As the very enlightened Commis- 

 sioner of the Patent Office has practically com- 



menced an agricultural department by afibrdin <: 

 facilities Ibr the collection and distribution of valu- 

 able seeds throuiihout the Uniied States, {he trou- 

 ble of transmitting to or receiving fi'om me a few 

 seeds will he very slight indeed ; as it will consist 

 solely in first superscrittinir the small package " to 

 lliesuperintendent of the Tropical Plant Company, 

 Indian Key, T. F." and then enclosing it in an 

 envelope directed to the "Patent Office, Wash- 

 ington, D. C.-' Very respeoifully, 



Your ob't servant, 

 Henry Pkrrine, 

 Sup't. T.P. C. 

 Indian Key, T. F., 5th Oct., 1839. 



RE^SFFIRMATION OF CHARGES IN DR. PEK- 

 RINe's COMMUIVICATION. 



To ttie Editor of tlie Fanners' Eegister. 



Indian Key, T. F., Oct. \5th, 1839. 



In your August No. at p. 473-4, I perceive, 

 over two names, the irrelevant attempts to im- 

 peach the phraseological correctness of two words 

 contained in a few Ibrbearing lines, (on p, 354-5 

 of your June No.,) which cannot ever he fairly 

 disproved. 



On these self-exculpating, self-implicating pa- 

 pers, of offending and oH^ended individuals, I mere- 

 ly remark that they do not even indirectly deny 

 the main fact of g-?-oss neglect of official duty ; and 

 I briefly add, that a recent outrage personally per- 

 petrated by the primary defendant, having been 

 Jbrmallj' conmiunicated to the Hon. Secretary of 

 the Navy, the sub-officer should soon have an of- 

 Hcial opportunity for official disproval of any offi- 

 cial misconduct ever alledged by me. 

 Very respectfully, 

 Your ob't. servant, 



Henry Perrine. 



CORRESPONDENCE ON THE PRESERVATION OP 

 TROPICAL PLANTS. 



[Communicated for the Farmers' Register.] 



War Department, July nth, 1838. 

 Sir — This will be handed to you by Dr. Per- 

 rine, who repairs to Florida with a view to the ac- 

 complishment of important and interesting objects, 

 which he will make known to you. Such aid and 

 facilities as you may be able to extend to this gen- 

 tleman, without any interference with the particu- 

 lar duties with which you are charged, under the 

 direction of this department, I will thank you to 

 grant him. Very respecllijily. 



Your most ob't. servant, 



J. R. Poinsett. 

 Lieut. J. T. McLaughlin, } 

 Commanding Schr. Wave. 3 



Circular to the Officers and' Agents of the War De- 

 partment, in and near the territory of Florida. 



Such officers and agents of this department in 

 and near the territory of Florida as the bearer Dr. 

 Perrine may present this pafier to, are hereby re- 

 quested to extend to that gentleman all the aid and 

 facilities that may be in their power, and that will 



