1836.] Miscellaneous. 315 



but vegetable productions do, to a great extent, acclimate themselves ; 

 while it is probable that nothing can compensate to them the want of a 

 principal constituent of the soil. Now I have not been able to obtain spe- 

 cimens of the American cotton soils, but I have good authority for stat- 

 ing that the soil of the Sea Islands is wholly a calcareous sand — in other 

 words a light chalky or shelly soil ; so that it may probably contain from 

 50 to 60 per cent, of calcareous matter (lime generally in the state of chalk), 

 and we have been attempting to grow this cotton on a soil which barely 

 contains a trace of it ! The soil of the Botanic Garden, for instance, not 

 containing more than 1| or 2 per cent. : Indeed we may say generally, that 

 till we reach the kankur districts, none of the soils of lower Bengal, out 

 of the reach of the inundations, contain any great portion of lime. I 

 showed some years ago*, that the inundations deposit lime, and that much 

 of the fertilising effect they produce is due to it. 



The American cotton is, then, on account of differences of climate, a 

 case not strictly in point, but the Bourbon cotton — grown both at Bourbon 

 and the Mauritius — which sells for a shilling, when the Sea Island sells 

 for 13d. and the Manilla cotton, which sells for 1 Id. when the Bourbon is 

 worth a shilling, are both cottons of hot climates like our own ; and both 

 these are grown in highly calcareous soils. The soil on the table before 

 you is from the Mauritius; it is sent me by M. Geneve, of La Riviere 

 Noire, one of the finest estates on the island, as an excellent cotton soil, 

 and contains 32 per cent, of carbonate of lime, (or in plain English, one- 

 third chalk ;) there is, moreover, phosphate and perhaps not less than 40 

 per cent, of calcareous matter I Its iron too is in a peculiar state, that 

 of protoxide or the black oxide of iron; and in this respect, it probably 

 resembles the black cotton soils of Southern India. No wonder that the 

 Bourbon cotton, though it grows well in many of our gardens near town, 

 where it meets with plenty of calcareous matter amongst the lime-rubbish 

 with which most of them are filled, is said to degenerate when cultivated 

 in the open fields, which do not contain 2 per cent, of lime. I know, 

 from the experience of several years, that it does not degenerate if it is 

 duly supplied with calcareous matter ; but that it will produce most 

 abundantly, and for years, cotton worth from lOd. to lid. per lb. in a 

 proper soil. If the soil does not suit it, it will produce little else than 

 leaves and wood, and the staple will deteriorate. Samples of American 

 cotton soils are wanting now to make our theory on this head perfect ; 

 but I would advise no man to attempt foreign cottons in a soil containing 

 less than 15 percent, of lime, and its iron mostly in the state of protoxide 

 or black oxide. 



Tobacco. — Tobacco soils are the next, and here we are more fortunate, 

 for there are on the table soils from Arracan (Sandoway) ; a soil from 

 Singour in Burdwan, near Chandernagore, the tobacco of which, though 

 of the same species as that of the surrounding country, sells at the price 

 of the Arracan sort ! and the soil of the best Bengal tobacco, which is 

 grown at and about Hinglee, in the Kishnagar district, near factories for- 

 merly held by me. Col. Hazeta and Dr. Casanova are our authorities 

 for saying, that the tobacco soils of the Havanna are red soils, and those of 

 Manilla, I know, are also red soil. Now the red and reddish brown soils 

 contain most of their iron in the state of peroxide, or the reddish brown 

 oxide of iron ; while the light- grey soils contain it only in the state of 

 protoxide, or the black oxide of iron. I believe the quality of the tobacco 

 to depend mainly on the state and quantity of the iron in the soil ; while 

 it is indifferent about the lime, which we have seen is so essential to cotton. 

 None of these tobacco soils contain any lime. Their analysis shows them 

 to contain : — 



* Trans, of the Phys. Class, As. Soc. Vol. I.. 



2 s 2 



