1837.] 



Remarks on the Cultivation of Cotton, 



103 



received as a specific distinction, cannot even be admitted as 

 characteristic of a permanent variety, since it may be produced to 

 a great extent in one generation* and it is possible may be removed in 

 the next. This much I can state from personal observation, that seeds, 

 taken from the same pod, may some be smooth, some partially clothed 

 withfur,and perhaps will,in the next generation, be found completely co- 

 vered. These facts lead to the suspicion that, in proportion as the 

 staple deteriorates, the fur begins, and that we may thus account for 

 the fur seeded varieties of the Sea Island being less valuable than the 

 smooth ones, and the Egyptian cotton above alluded to, though good, 

 being inferior to the original stock. I do not presume, in the present 

 state of our knowledge, to attach more weight to these views than 

 that of considering them probable conjectures, but yet I think them 

 deserving of attention on the part of the cultivator, because, should 

 future observation and experiment prove them to be well founded, they 

 afford him a sure criterion, by which he may know when it is necessa- 

 ry to change his seed ; as an accession of fur on smooth or very slight- 

 ly furred varieties will indicate the progress of deterioration ; and, 

 vice versa, the diminution of fur on the rough seeded ones, may afford 

 the best indication of a congenial soil, climate and mode of culture. 



Before leaving this subject I must again remind the reader, that I 

 am not in possession of facts sufficient to establish the doctrine I have 

 broached, and that these inferences must, for the present, be viewed as 

 mere conjectures, the value of which remains to be determined by- 

 future experiment and observation ; not conducted in one country only, 

 or on a small scale, but in many, and in no part of the world so favour- 

 ably as on the Sea Islands. How interesting it would prove to see 

 the short staple, woolly seeded, Uplands, converted, in the course of a 

 few generations, into smooth seeded, long stapled, Sea Islands ; and 

 the green seeded sub-varieties restored to their place in the first rank ; 

 while we, with careful management, may be able to raise our country- 

 cottons to a much higher rank than that they now usually hold in the 

 English market ; the improvment being equally marked by a return to 

 smooth seed. 



The concluding question of Mr. Fischer's second letter is direct and 

 unanswerable, and in the Salem district his experience of both kinds 

 entitles, his opinion to the greatest deference. But, though backed by 

 experience, the only sure guide, in that particular district, we are not 

 yet authorized to adopt it as a general rule, because it has already been 

 shown that at Ingeram the Bourbon entirely failed, while both the 

 Sea Island and Upland Geoigian perfectly succeeded, at least on a 

 small scale. The experience acquired in the Salem, Coimbatore, 

 Mysore, and some of the talooks of the Tinnevelly districts, leave 



