312 



THE FARMER'S REGISTER. 



CULTURK OF TEA IN EUROPE. 



F^om the same. 



In a letter from liie Afil e Voisiri to M. Sanislas 

 Jijlieii is a staicdient, which proves liiat the tea- 

 tree ma}' be cui ivated in our rioriheni climates. 

 Tlie |i)rnier has refilled twelve years in China, 

 near the Ironiiers of Thibet, ifi wliich country all 

 tiie species of" tea aie euccessluliy cuiiivaled ; 

 ahhoiiijh the decree of cold there tnucii exceeds 

 tliHt of our vvinierp, and 'he snow never melts 

 belbre the end of April. Tu'eniy-lour treniises 

 concerning lea have been coni[)osed in China, 

 from the sevcnih century to the pre?eni lime, and 

 vvliich contain all the requisite insiruciions lor ihe 

 culnire and preparation ol' the plant. — yJlltencBvm. 



(Or the practicability of the yrowlh of tea in 

 Europe there has long been no doubt ; indeed, 

 the experiment has bteti made vviih success in 

 Wales. The only doubt lies in the secret of its 

 preparation. — jEd.) 



In no country of Europe is tea imported in 

 euch perfection as in Russia. Conveyed by land 

 ihrouffh the medium of the large fiiis at Ladalc 

 and Nijin Novgorod, it retains the virtue of which 

 a sea-voyage is said to deprive it; while its flavor 

 is much enhanced by ihe leaves of the vleafra- 

 grans, with which the Chinese pack it for a land 

 journey. — EUiotVs 7Vavels. 



EGYPTIAN COTTON CULTIVATED IN .^IISSIS- 

 SIPPI. 



To tlie Editor of ttie Farmers' Register. 



Some time since I promised to give ynn the 

 results of some experiments, I was ihen making 

 with the EL^yptian cotton. I was induced to 

 make this promise from iho fact of i!ie appfarance 

 in your Register, in November 1838, of sou«e pre- 

 mature rematks upon this subject, extr.icted Iron) 

 (he Rodney Telegraph, calculated to produce, I 

 much (eared, in tlie minds of your readers, erro- 

 neous opinions respecting this cotton. I was 

 absent from home at the time this was written, 

 and Dr. New was urged to do it by the earnest 

 Bolicitaiions of the editors of our villaiie paper. 

 1 regretted this publication in your Register the 

 more, in consequence of the (iear of beinir charged 

 with attempting to impose another humbug upon 

 Ihe community, and this being but to herald its 

 fame prior to enterijig the 'se(d into market. 

 Let me assure you, sir, there is scarcely any 

 thing 1 so much detest, and 1 hope it niay not 

 appear superfluous lijr me heie to add, ihat 1 

 have never sold a single seed of it, and tliat I 

 have never relused irivmg ihem to all who have 

 desired to atlen)pi the same rcfulis 1 had in view 

 mysell, that is, to improve, or at least to revive, 

 Ihe former character of our Mexican cotton. 

 How lar I have succeeded in this design is my 

 present object to explain, and to do ihisTt will be 

 necessary to jzo back to the first year ihis cotton 

 was introduced upon this place, in order to trace 

 its changes from its original character to its present 

 mixed varieties. 



Whilst my father. Dr. Rush Nutt. was making 

 Eutour in the East during the year 1834, he pro" 

 cured among other things a handlul of cotton 

 seed in Egypt ; of these there were two kinds, a 



small white seed, and smooth black seed. These 

 black seed he represented as having been introdu- 

 ced into Eirypt from our Sea Island. That the 

 stalks from ilicse seed in Egypt only grfew three 

 or lour feel high ; in this particular, and in ihia 

 on'y. difiering kom the character it assumes in 

 our Sea Islands. This change he ascMbed to its 

 being cultivated for a succession of years in the 

 extremely dry climate of Et'ypt. 



In Ihe spring of 1S36 I [)lanted the?e seed ; from 

 then) succeeded in getting only o?ie sfa//f of the 

 black seed to grow, the white having rotted in 

 the ground ; the latter was also the fite with some 

 others with whom my fttther had shared the seed. 

 Being in a very rich bottom, this single stalk of 

 the block seed grew about six feet hinh, with 

 large heavy branches. It was late in blooming, 

 and ill September it was covered w'iih young boils 

 and squares, liut among the whole not more than 

 half a dozen matured. The bolls were small, 

 and contained on!y three chambers, the same 

 as in Egypt, the cotton presented its usual rich- 

 ness of co'or, and the same lengtll and beauty of 

 sta|ile ov fibre. 



The lollowing spring I planted the seed from 

 this stock upon ihe hills, supposing it would here 

 come lo maturity earlier, and contiguous to our 

 Mexican cotton, in order to see if by approxima- 

 iion It would derive any improvement or new 

 properties from the Mexican. I first observed a 

 great variety in the size of the stalks Irom these 

 ?eed, and then in the size of the bolls. Some two 

 or three of ihe stalks grew as hieh as 10 or 12 

 leei, bearing much larger liolls, liut fewer in num- 

 ber, than the preceding year, and a lew only of 

 these bolls contained 'our compartments or cham- 

 bers. 'J'iicse stalks produced much ihe ntost 

 beautiful cotton of the whole, 'i'he remainder, 

 the greater part of th*; stalks, did not grow more 

 than three and lour feet in the same soil, bolls 

 and squares were more numerous, hut small. I 

 could not account (or this diflerence in any other 

 manner than Lysupposiiiij liiat the blossoms of 

 these larire plants had received some of the farina 

 from the blossoms of the contiguous Mexican cot- 

 ton, which amalizamation of (ructilyintr principles 

 had invigorated the plant and caused the product 

 to assume somewhat more of the Mexican cha- 

 racter, riow litis change of prcdvct might liavc 

 taken place 1 can readily conceive, but by what 

 law ot' vegetable ph)sio!oi!y it caused ihe plant 

 itself to spiiniT up so much higher. 1 am at a 

 loss to say, particularly as this growth had gene- 

 rally taken place belore it bloomed ; and I must 

 leave it to wiser heads than mine to ofler an ex- 

 planation of this phenomenon of naiure. 



These seeds were carelully saved, and the next 

 sprini'-, that of 1S38, I planted (rom them about 

 an acic of ground, again in the hills. This sea- 

 s' n i n)aiked no changes (ion) that of the last. 

 Some (ew stalks grew, as be(bre, very tall, with 

 lewer and larizer bolls, whilst the gieater part 

 were small, wnh small bolls, and a great many- 

 squares that never came to maturity. 



These seeds were also saved ; and now having a 

 sufficient quantity lo venture experimems in an- 

 other form, and being pretty well satisfied that 

 we could never succeed in making it a valuable 

 plant in its original unmixed state, I determined in 

 the spring of 1839 to plant the seed with the 

 Mexican, a row of each alternately. This was 



