236 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



to show some details relative to the present state of that question. 

 France has the deepest interest, in view of its manufactures, in 

 growing its cotton in Algeria. On one hand the production of 

 the United States, which furnishes Europe with the largest por- 

 tion of the raw material, finds difficulty in keeping pace with the 

 manufactures of the continent, and every year consumes herself 

 more and more in her own factories. On the other hand — other 

 cotton yielding countries afford insufiicient supplies. England is 

 occupied with this question at this moment; she has been trying 

 for several years to grow cotton in India and Australia, the only 

 territories she has capable of doing it on a large scale, so that she 

 may secure her independence of a rival-nation. 



France consumes every year about one hundred millions francs' 

 worth of cotton, which she obtains from the United States and 

 Egypt. Algeria is destined hereafter to come to our aid. 



The experiments made there, in the nurseries of the govern- 

 ment, within the last ten years, and latterly by some intelligent 

 colonists, have proved that the cotton growing was not only prac- 

 ticable but profitable to the agriculturists, and that the cotton 

 rivaled the best qualities raised in other countries. 



Among the numerous sorts of cotton tried in Algeria it is found 

 that the Georgia Long Staple, the Jumel, the Nankin, and the 

 Louisiana "White succeed best, and they are the very kinds most 

 sought for by the trade. The French Chambers of Commerce 

 unanimously testify the good qualities mentioned. And at the 

 London Exhibition of 1851, these cottons were decreed eleven 

 premiums. The Sea Island cotton grows near the sea, (whence 

 its name,) and the lands which can grow it are limited in extent, 

 so that the crop does not exceed tliirty thousand bales, and can 

 hardly be increased beyond that for want of suitable soils. In 

 Algeria there are lands near the sea, as in Georgia and South 

 Carolina where this Sea Island cotton succeeds in growth perfectly. 

 The whole Sahel of the Province of Algiers, the Plain of Me- 

 tidja, the coast of the province of Oran, principally between that 

 city and Mortaganem, the plains of Tlelat, of the Habro, and of 

 the Sig, those of the Bone, and of Philippeville, in the province 

 of Constantine, without counting other localities, are susceptible 

 of the culture of cotton of excellent qualities. It would be easy 

 to procure from these territories 15,000 bales of Sea Island cot- 

 ton. The first crop of Georgia long staple Sea Island was grown in 

 Algeria in 1 850. It was examined by an able spinner of the north, 

 Mr. Cox, who pronounced it to be worth nine francs the kilo- 



