GOSSYPIUM. 



GOSSYPIUM. 



water. "The teeth in the circular iron plates 

 serrated, about three-fourths of an inch apart, 

 fixed to a cylinder, draw the cotton wool from 

 the seeds, through the openings of iron straps, 

 out of the bin and hopper in which the cotton 

 is placed. These openings are too narrow to 

 suffer the seed to pass. The cotton is brushed 

 off the saws by counter-moving brushes on an- 

 other cylinder. By an ox gin, 6 to 900 Ibs. are 

 cleansed in a day. After ginning, the cotton 

 is picked of all remaining broken seeds and 

 trash, and packed in bags of 250 to 300 Ibs." 



Varieties of Cotton. Besides the Mexican and 

 Petit-Gulf, some other kinds have recently ob- 

 tained great celebrity in the United States. One 

 is called by some the twin, by others the Aid- 

 ridge cotton, the first name being derived from 

 the peculiar manner in which the branches 

 shoot out from the stalk, the second from its 

 supposed first introducer. There seems to be 

 some doubt as to the origin of this cotton. The 

 advantages claimed for it are, 1st, its being 

 better able to stand the effects of drought ; 2d, 

 not casting the squares however severe this 

 may be; 3d, admitting of very close planting 

 in consequence of the great shortness of its 

 branches ; 4th, the rapidity of growth and pro- 

 ductiveness superior to what is observed in 

 common kinds. The advantages of maturing 

 early, and thus allowing a longer time for pick- 

 ing, is, as before observed, a great desideratum 

 to the planter. The superior merits of this 

 new variety of cotton caused great competition 

 for its seed, which at one time sold for $5 per 

 quart, and even 50 cents the single seed. 



A communication in the 7th volume of the 

 Farmer's Register (p. 252), makes the following 

 statement in relation to this variety, which, 

 from a resemblance in its stalk to a member 

 of the Hibiscus family, has been called Okra 

 cotton. 



" A Mr. Terry, of Autauga county, Alabama, 

 some years ago bought some Petit-Gulf seed. 

 A single stalk was observed in a field without 

 limbs, and having great numbers of bolls ad- 

 hering immediately 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 this variety has been propa- 

 gated. The seed sold, in 1837, at 50 cents a 

 piece. Last fall I bought at $160 a bushel. 

 The cotton examined by me exhibited a dis- 

 tinct variety. It had rarely any limbs longer 

 than one joint, sometimes two; the bolls were 

 two, three, and as much as seven in a cluster. 

 I had one limb about 4 inches long, with 7 

 good bolls opened 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, 2 to 4 cents a ppund better ; be- 

 ing in colour and staple the finest and softest 

 short-staple I have ever seen. It opens earlier. 

 The field I examined was planted the 20th 

 April. A very intelligent gentleman, living in 

 the neighbourhood, told me he planted similar 

 land on the 1st of April, and that the new cotton 

 was open two weeks earlier than his. It grows 

 in good land quite tall, say 6 or 8 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 top- 

 558 



ping. Its advantage to an Alabama planter, 

 if it succeeds in rich prairie lands, will be its 

 early opening, 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 more like 

 okra than any other the leaf being a cotton 

 leaf." 



Another writer in the same periodical, 

 speaking of the two new kinds of cotton, says, 

 "There are two distinct varieties of twin. or 

 okra cotton. The one called okra was disco- 

 vered in Alabama, in first year's Petit-Gulf 

 seed. It grows up generally in one tall stalk, 

 sometimes as high as 8 or 9 feet, with very 

 short limbs, which are seldom more than 6 or 

 8 inches long, and having its bolls in clusters 

 of 2 to 7 or more. I have seen 10 blossoms or 

 forms in one bunch. Sometimes 1, 2, or 3 

 long limbs put out near the ground, turn up- 

 wards, and grow parallel to the main stem, 

 bearing fruit as it does." 



"The other new variety of cotton is said 

 to have been discovered in Chester District. 

 It is now somewhat like the Alabama okra, 

 without being the same. It is about a half- 

 way plant between the okra and Petit-Gulf. I 

 have never seen it taller than 4 or 5 feet. Its 

 limbs are longer than the okra, and not as long 

 as those of the Petit-Gulf. Both kinds have 

 twin bolls, but the bolls and blossoms are more 

 numerous in the okra. Two bolls on the same 

 stem are frequent in both; but it is only on the 

 okra that I have seen 3 blossoms within the 

 same calyx, or 4, 5, or more bolls in one clus- 

 ter. There is also a clearly defined difference 

 in the Chester twin, a darker, green, and more 

 naked seed. No person who has once seen the 

 two plants growing, or the two kinds of seed, 

 will ever mistake the one for the other. 



" I am not prepared to say that the Chester 

 kind is not a good cotton. I know too little of 

 it. The staple is good ; I have seen some stalks 

 in gardens very well filled with bolls. 



" To the Alabama okra there is one objec- 

 tion, which I think can be easily obviated. It 

 grows too tall, and is liable to fall down. The 

 remedy is to top it at 4^ or 4 feet. The stalk 

 grows stronger, the bolls fill up larger, and the 

 product is increased by it. As it will bear great 

 crowding on the land, the yield will be greater 

 than from Petit-Gulf. It is, in fact, an im- 

 proved Petit-Gulf seed." 



Okra cotton is also called by some Alvarado 

 cotton. With regard to its productiveness some 

 idea may be gained from the following adver- 

 tisement in the Columbia papers, offering for 

 sale the seed of this cotton. 



" Dr. J. H. Taylor, from little more than of 

 the stand he ought to have had, gathered up- 

 wards of 1,200 Ibs. per acre. The following is 

 an extract of a letter from Dr. Taylor: 'You 

 must observe I had not more than of a stand, 

 and planted, too, at 5 feet instead of 3, and yet 

 I will make about 1,200 Ibs. per acre. I believe 

 it capable, on the same land, of yielding 5,000 

 Ibs., planted at 5 feet in double rows. If I live 

 another year, I will try 100 acres in that way.' 

 Mr. F. M. Gilmer, of Montgomery, Alabama, 

 from as bad a stand, gathered 1,400 Ibs. to the 

 acre. Mr. C. T. Billingslea, of Bibb county, 



