APRIL — jUNBj 1857.] Olservations on Cotton, 123 
powerful would follow, and could be driven by oxen by means of 
simple gear; a forty saw gin with a screw-press is used in Virginia 
to clean the crops of the neighbouring farmers at a per-centage on 
the quantity ginned. 
The advantage gained in Tropical Africa consists in the much 
larger return, from the*^same extent of surface, than the colder 
climate of the States can average. I have generally found a tree 
yield upwards of eight ounces of wool at one bearing, on a space 
of five feet square; which, at two crops per annum, would thus 
produce 800 IbS. per acre, or double that obtained from the Sou- 
thern States by slave labour. 
In regard to experienced labourers for Africa, it is a gratifying 
fact that many of the planters in Maryland and Virginia would 
emancipate their slaves, provided they could be sent out of the 
country so as to save them the expense of supporting them, which 
the laws of these States make imperative on setting them free. In 
proof of this disposition, the Government of St. Domingo was at 
the charge, about twenty years ago, of conveying 13,000 Negroes 
from the Slave States to that Island, where they were located as 
free men. It is, in all probability, through them that the saw gin 
has been introduced for Cotton ; the screw-press being still requir- 
ed on the coast, previous to its shipment. 
Natal, near the Cape of Good Hope, is now obtaining the atten- 
tion of English colonists, as an extensive field and favorable cli- 
mate for Cotton. Having furnished some Honduras seeds to a 
gentleman connected v/ith the Cape, a communication which ac- 
companied them was printed in the Graham Town Journal, of 10th 
July 1845 : embracing, more in practical detail, several of these 
and other points relative to its cultivation. I am informed that 
some bales of Cotton have already been sent from Natal, and tro- 
pical Africa should not be less productive. Among the samples 
produced is a little brought from the Niger, of a strong useful 
quality ; also two spindles of native made thread, and a piece of 
cloth from Dahomi in Ashanti, woven in narrow strips of about 
three inches broad and sewed together. It is dyed in different 
