200 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
and there already shows the invaluable material 
which is to become a source of prosperity and pre- 
eminence to nations. The cultivation of this plant 
is the agriculture of the State, all other crops being 
subordinate, and even maize being raised only for 
home consumption. The fields are ploughed in 
autumn and spring, with ploughs of very rude and 
inefficient construction, drawn by mules, the usual 
beasts of draught for all farm purposes. The cot- 
ton seed is sown early in spring, in drills or rows, 
between which the ground is carefully and repeat-^ 
edly hoed by the slaves during the summer, to 
eradicate the Crowfoot Grass [Cynodon dactylon)^ 
and other weeds. The plant usually appears above 
ground in the latter part of May, and grows to the 
height of four or five feet ; but as it is an annual, 
and a tender one, it dies in the autumn. The 
leaves are lobed like those of the vine, and the 
blossoms are large, and much resemble a single 
Hollyhock ; they have the remarkable property 
of changing their colour : the flower when it blows 
is of a pure yellowish white, with a red spot at 
the base of each petal, as in the common Hibiscus ; 
this colour it retains during the first day, but 
towards evening a very slight tinge of pink is per- 
ceptible here and there ; on the morrow the whole 
blossom has become deep pink, and on the third 
day it drops. The flower is enclosed in a calyx, 
which is again enclosed in a cup-shaped invo- 
lucrum of three bracts; these are large, and cut 
into long teeth; so that on the whole it has a noble 
appearance. It is succeeded by an oval green 
fruit, which attains the size of a hen’s egg, and 
contains many seeds, enclosed in four divisions, 
and enveloped in the cotton, whose individual fila- 
