CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



like flax taken out of the pool and the plants spread singly 

 and regularly on a plot of sward. 



When hemp is thus spread out, it generally lies from four 

 to six weeks on the surface, subject to the influence of the 

 rains and dews, by which the decomposition of the ligneous 

 part of the stem is promoted, and is rendered hard and brittle. 

 It is to be carefully turned over two or three times a week. 

 When fit for removal, it is re-bound in bunches, and carried 

 to the barn, where it undergoes the process of bruising by the 

 machine called a break, as in the case of flax. After the hemp 

 has undergone the process of breaking, it generally passes into 

 the hands of various artisans. The first operation is that of 

 heckling, either by hand or machinery. It is first beat, and 

 then dressed by means of fixed heckles resembling those used 

 for flax. Arranged into sorts and parcels to suit purchasers, 

 it then passes into the hands of the spinner, the weaver, and 

 of the bleacher. But the operations are all frequently per- 

 formed on a small scale on the farm. 



III. COTTON. 



COTTON is the great staple of the United States, affording the 

 rich mine from which we draw the means of paying for the 

 enormous quantity of the productions of foreign art now neces- 

 sary, in consequence of long and improper indulgence, to the 

 daily comfort of almost all classes of our population. Its his- 

 tory is replete with interest. ELI WHITNEY, a native of Mas- 

 sachusetts, who settled in Georgia as a tutor, about the year 

 1792, gave to the cotton culture its first mighty impulse by the 

 invention of a machine the American Saw-gin by which 

 the seed is separated from the fibre perfectly, and with the most 

 astonishing rapidity. This invention was not the result of ac- 

 cident, but the result of systematic application, of earnest 

 thought and powerful mechanical genius. 



Of what country cotton is a native is not known. There are 

 different species of the plants, but all are natives of warm cli- 

 mates. The word or term cotton is said to be of Arabic origin. 

 The plant which produces the down, called "cotton/ 7 is of three 

 or four general varieties the tree or shrub, the annual, herba- 

 ceous, &c. The kinds chiefly cultivated now, and especially in 

 the United States, are the latter. The Sea Island cotton is 

 grown to some extent in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. 



It is difficult to trace back with accuracy its earliest cultiva- 

 tion. It is found indigenous in South America and in parts of 



