108 



Remarks on the Cultivation of Cotton. 



[July 



inches in height, covered with flowers and full grown pods, some of 

 which have already burst. Some time was certainly gained by the ex- 

 pedient of transplanting, as several of the plants had begun to flower 

 before that operation was commenced, and hurried it, though the wea- 

 ther was most unfavourable. The plants have now a shrubby, dwarf- 

 ish appearance, but the pods are very large, and the cotton of the few 

 that have opened is of fine quality. Should the rains soon set in, so as 

 to admit of the ground being thoroughly dug and lightly manured, 

 while the plants themselves are pruned, I have no fear of yet obtaining 

 a very favourable result. The Bourbon cotton plants, the ground for 

 which was better prepared, promise much more favourably ; they are 

 now growing freely, look healthy, and are only beginning to flower. 

 The Sea Island plants look delicate, but will probably recover their 

 vigour on the accession of rainy weather. A few, which were more 

 carefully managed, and planted in better soil than the rest, are very 

 strong and vigorous, and promise a large crop. Several of these have 

 been topped and are throwing out numerous strong lateral branches, 

 giving reason to anticipate a vastly increased produce, not less, I think, 

 than four or five times the quantity that otherwise would have been 

 produced. 



The soil on which these are planted proved on being dug a very stiff 

 clay, in place of a light loam which I at first supposed ; and part of 

 the failure is I think fairly assignable to its not being sufficiently 

 wrought before being planted. Another portion of ground, the soil of 

 which is a light sandy loam, remains to be planted, and will still afford 

 a good means of comparison, though not so favourable as if it had been 

 planted at the same time. 



The following extracts, occasionally considerably abridged from Dr. 

 Ure's work on the cotton manufacture of Great Britain, exhibiting 

 some of the more important points of American cotton agriculture, 

 may prove of use to those so engaged, in a country where that book is 

 as yet but little known. 



" The only essential point seems to be a saline atmosphere ; with it 

 any soil in Georgia or Carolina may produce fine cotton, without it, no 

 soil will do so." This doctrine seems very questionable, as already 

 explained. 



" The preferable time for sowing Sea Island cotton seed is from the 

 1st to the 15th April." " Any vegetable manure is good for cotton, but 

 it must be applied judiciously, for excessive luxurance renders the fruit 

 scanty." This is on the Sea Islands themselves, and with the view of 

 raising an annual plant, which must have finished its crop before the 

 frosts of November and December have commenced. With us about 

 the same season may equally be found the best for sowing, though not 

 for the same reason. Mr. Fischer's experience leads to this conclusion. 



