27 A 



COTTON. 



son to approve of it. I therefore recommended it to 

 my friends in Demerary, but I believe unavailingly, 

 and for the reason which constitutes so frivolous an ob- 

 jection to the fumigation with sulphuric vapour. It 

 possesses the merit of simplicity, being nothing more 

 than the scattering of finely powdered quicklime over 

 the leaves of the trees and plants on which the insects 

 are, early in the morning when they are moist with 

 dew. If any particles of the lime adhere to -the insect, 

 it inevitably perishes. 



The blast or blight is another evil the cotton tree is 

 subject to ; and as its tendency is to check or destroy 

 the vegetative powers of the plant, and consequently to 

 deprive it of all its productive faculties for a season, it 

 is perhaps an evil of greater magnitude than even the 

 chenille. I shall therefore, as I have already attempt- 

 ed relative to the chenille, present such observations as 

 have occurred to me, during my residence in Deme- 

 rary, as a planter, on the nature, causes, and means of 

 remedying it. 



The magnitude of the evil, and the causes to which 

 blast or blight was anciently assigned, Pliny thus ex- 

 presses, {Nat. Hist.)., xviii. c. 17-) Ccelestefragum vinea- 

 rumque malum nulla minus noxium est rubigo. Frequen- 

 lissima hoec in roscido tractu, convallihusque ac perflation 

 iion habenlibus. E diverso careul ea ventosa, et exceha. 

 In another place he enumerates the names the blight 

 was distinguished by, (c. 28.) Aliis rubiginem, aliis 

 iiredinem, aliis carbunculum appellantibus , omnibus vero 

 stcrilitatem. Of these appellations, uredo is perhaps 

 the most applicable, and most expressive of the appear- 

 ance of plants suffering under this disease. The cot- 

 ton trees more especially look as if burnt, the leaves, 

 stem, and pods exhibiting the marks of a scorching fire. 

 Pliny seems to have possessed a perfect knowledge of 

 the causes of blight, when he thus speaks of them ; 

 Plerique dixerc rorem inustum sole acri frugihu s rubigi- 

 nis causam esse, et carbunculi vitibu* : quod ex parte 

 falsum, arbitror, omnemque uredinem frigore tantum 

 const are, sole innoxio. Id manifestumjiet attendentibus. 

 Nam primum omnium non hoc evenire, nisi noctibus et 

 ante solis ardor em, deprehenditur. {Ibid. Ed. Harduin, 

 folio). The very accurate observations of Ramazzini 

 have given precisely the same result, and proved the 

 efficiency of a cause exactly similar in effect to that 

 which I shall describe in Demerary. In the year 1 690, in 

 Modena and the contiguous districts of Italy, prodigious 

 rain and consequent inundation took place. Perstitit 

 deinde eadem pluviosa constitutio, non solum toto veris 

 tempore, sed per totam fere asstatem ut nulla pene dies 

 sine pluvia visa fuerit. Hinc factum, quod una cum 

 pluviis flante ut plurimum Borea, nulla unquatn cestas 

 nostra in hoc climate exstiterit, in qua remissior fuerit 

 calidilas, fyc. — Sub initio Junii denuo, sicut anno anle- 

 acto, apparuere signa Rubiginis. The whole vege- 

 table kingdom suffered by this pessirnus omnium fru- 

 gum morbus, &c. (See Ramazz. Constitutio Epidemica 

 Ruralis, 16'90. Oper. Ed. 1718, p. 69, 70.) That this 

 has been chiefly efficient in the production of this dis- 

 heartening calamity in Demerary, will appear from the 

 following detail of facts; and it is the more deserving 

 our notice, as it goes far to prove the identity of dis- 

 ease produced in the temperate and tropic climates, in 

 countries distant from eacli other more than thirty- 

 eight degrees of latitude, by a cause of precisely the 

 5ame nature, and wliich, in relation to each country, 

 acts with precisely the game degree of power. 



During the spring of 1801, an opportunity, fatal to Gotten. 

 the crop of cotton, afforded ample means of ascertain- ^—v*"" 

 ing the causes and nature of blast, and gave room to 

 believe, that a remedy is not impracticable. Early in 

 the month of November, the rainy season was anticipa- 

 ted considerably, and presented a prospect extremely 

 discouraging to those planters who had been late in 

 pruning their cotton trees, which, owing to that cause, 

 had not as yet arrived at maturity. Success estate was 

 precisely in this predicament. The consequence in ge- 

 neral was, the trees in most instances became sickly, 

 and the pods reluctantly opened to a solar heat seldom 

 exceeding 80° and 82°. During December, more than 

 two feet of water fell and inundated the fields ; and 

 scarcely had we emerged from this calamity, when in 

 January another flood reduced us to the same situation. 

 Distressing as these circumstances were, the immediate 

 consequence would not have been fatal, had no other 

 succeeded. The trees lost nothing of their verdure 

 and towards the end of the month, a pleasing and uni- 

 versal display of blossoms raised apparently well-found- 

 ed hopes of an ample second crop. About the 28th, 

 however, the chenille began to appear, and towards the 

 middle of February became very general on the estate, 

 when a third prodigious fall of rain contributed to shake 

 the hopes we had formed. Notwithstanding this suc- 

 cession of unfavourable events, the cotton trees being 

 vigorous, and throwing out an immensity of blossoms, 

 I still flattered myself, that the second crop would com- 

 pensate the loss of the first. Towards the end of Fe- 

 bruary the north wind set in, and frequently sunk the 

 thermometer to the 70th degree. This was decisive ; 

 for, although the month of March was showery, yet it 

 was very considerably warmer, and the trees exhibited 

 a yellowness of leaf, a dried as if scorched stem, the 

 blossoms and forms fell effaete, the pods approaching to 

 maturity acquired a black hue, and their foot-stalks be- 

 coming shrivelled, sapless, and at last rotten, afforded no 

 longer a support, and they also fell hardened, black, and 

 useless. The preceding year having been marked by 

 a series of circumstances, the very opposite to those I 

 have described, was also marked by the wonderful fe« 

 cundity of the cotton trees during the months of Febru- 

 ary, March, and April. The one year gave a crop of 

 near a hundred thousand weight ; the immediately fol- 

 lowing one, a crop of fourteen thousand, of bad, scarce- 

 ly marketable, cotton. 



In the consideration of these facts, we perhaps may 

 perceive the causes, the nature, and in some measure 

 the remedy of the blast. The late pruning had depri- 

 ved the cotton trees of sufficient time to acquire that 

 state of maturity, which enables them to yield their fruit 

 abundantly, when heavy rains, and the accumulation of 

 water round their roots, surcharged them with juices, 

 and created a fresh and overpowering spring, retarding 

 the opening of their pods. At length a plethora took 

 place, and the fruit was destroyed, without materially 

 injuring the trees. Whilst recovering from the effects 

 of this, a new morbid cause interposed, and again redu- 

 ced the trees to the necessity of casting off their imma- 

 ture fruit, and to a disease of a still more formidable na- 

 ture invading their whole structure. The state of the 

 atmosphere towards the end of February, had allowed 

 the irritability of the trees to accumulate, (to use the 

 language of the late Dr Garnet,) and the heat of March- 

 acting upon this morbidly accumulated irritability, over- 

 powered it, bringing on a state of exhausted irritability 

 and gangrene. Had the same temperature of atmo- 



