THE TECHNOLOGIST [Mat 1, 1865. 



436 the culture of cotton in 



cotton plants on Mr. Garland's farm looked handsomer in the month of 

 January, when they were well hung with pods just beginning to open 

 and show the fine white cotton, which has the good property of puffing 

 up into a light mass on exposure to the air, as it does in the Georgia and 

 Egyptian, whereas in many kinds it is apt to remain hard or knotty, so 

 as to be intractable to the gin. 



Although the Imbabura ripens its first pods two months earlier than 

 the Piura cotton, it seems afterwards to fall into the same custom of 

 half-yearly crops. The same is plainly the case with all the other kinds, 

 except perhaps the Egyptian, which has not yet shown it distinctly. 



The cotton most cultivated around Guayaquil, and known there as 

 Criollo, or Creole, seems a small seeded variety of the Imbabura. 

 6. Algodon de Nueva-Oi leans (New Orleans Cotton). 

 Descr. — Petiole smooth, nearly naked. Leaves 5-5 X 8 inches, full 

 green, nearly naked above, pubescent beneath, 3-5-ckft to Mow f ; 

 lacinice narrow, ovato-lanceolate subacuminate acute, keeled, with very 

 gibbous sinuses. Iacolucral leaves laciniated not quite all around ; lacinia) 

 comparatively short, sometimes divaricating; gland obsolete. Calyx 

 slightly indented. Capsule about P9 x P2 inches when 3-celled, 

 1'8 x 13 inches when 4-celled, narrow ovato-oval with a very short 

 acute acumen. Seeds 7 in each cell, naked except a little greenish fuzz at 

 the base. 



Contents of a 4-celled capsule 78^ grs.; cotton 28 grs., or 35| per cent. 

 of gross weight. 



Obs. — This has much the habit of the Piura cotton-tree, but is more 

 laxly branched, and the lobes of the leaves are narrower and more 

 strongly keeled, in which characters it contrasts strongly with the 

 Egyptian and Georgia cottons. The cotton is of a very good quality, 

 but there is so little of it in proportion to the space occupied by the 

 plants, that a plot* of New Orleans does not produce half as much cotton 

 as one of Egyptian. 



7. Algodon de seda 6 de Sea Island (Silk or Sea Island Cotton). 

 Descr. — Petiole subpapillose upwards. Leaves 5-8x8 inches, 3- 

 (rarely 5-) cleft scarcely to f ; segments ovato-lanceolate subabruptly 

 acuminate, keeled, with gibbous sinuses, subglabrous above, subpu- 

 berulous beneath. Involucral leaves 2-6 x 245 inches, laciniate from a 

 little above base ; lacinice comparatively short and broad, glabrous. Calyx 

 shortly lobed. Pod 1*8 x 14 inches, ovate subacuminate, 3-4-celled. 

 Seeds 5 to 7 in each cell, black, remaining quite naked after the cotton is 

 removed. 



Contents of a 3-celled capsule 50^ grs. ; viz., 19 seeds, 37^ grs.; cotton 

 Id grs., or 26 per cent, of gross weight. 



(S. There is a variety of Sea Island, which has fuzzy seeds, but is other- 

 wise totally undistinguishable. A 4-celled capsule contained 70% grs.; 

 whereof the 2o seeds weighed bOgrs., and the cotton 20| grs., or 28| per cent. 

 oss weight.) 



