610 TRANSACTION'S OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 



MECHANICAL PUZZLE, 



Mr. Smith exhibited a model of two wheels, one of twice tlie 

 diameter of the other, so connected as to revolve in the same 

 time. 



Mr. Seeley said that the number of teeth was the same in both, 

 and there was some slipping. 



The President exhibited a specimen of the yellow cotton, 

 brought originally from China in the form of nankeen. It was 

 transferred to Georgia ; but it was found that it intermixed with 

 the white cotton, so that its cultivation was laid aside. Its fiber 

 is light and short, rather more twisted than that of ordinary 

 cotton. A specimen of cotton purporting to come from Peru, 

 upon microscopic examination proved not to be a true cotton, the 

 fiber not having the screw form. In the Astor library he had 

 found the English Parliamentary reports complete from the day 

 they commenced printing their reports down to the last session. 

 Commencing with the volume for 1836, in which are the first 

 reports relative to the cotton culture in India, he had carefully 

 examined all the reports to 1846, and would proceed to examine 

 those subsequently made. 



In the first paper upon the subject, the success in the culture 

 of American cotton is attributed to the high intelligence of the 

 overseers, mentioning also the peculiar adaptation of the very slen- 

 der fingers of the Creoles for taking the cotton cleanly from the 

 pod. After various experiments, at enormous expense, in the East 

 Indies, for ten years, it was advised that the cotton produced, 

 on account of the inequality of the length of the staple, and its 

 extreme tenderness, be sent to the Canton market, being unfit for 

 the British market. The failure was attributed, first, to the 

 utter incompetency of the natives to be trained to neat and or- 

 derly work, and they say that nothing but the most strict over- 

 sight and perfect authority of the men who command over those 

 that do the labor, can produce anywhere a successful crop to 

 compete with the American cotton. The second difficulty was 

 their periodical rainy and dry seasons ; whereas here the Blue 

 Ridge, extending from New York to Texas, is a regular provider 

 of rains through all the period from the planting of the cotton 

 until it is fully ripe, and the cotton region rarely sufiers from 

 drought. Another remarkable fact is, that while the cottons 



