304 
AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE -NO. 10. 
i SUPERIORITY OF COTTON MATTRESSES, 
i The object of this communication is, to show 
that, though wool mattresses are undoubtedly an 
excellent article, yet, if “ Cato” will try a mattress 
made of cotton, with the same labor as in making 
a wool mattress he will not be so sanguine as to 
cheapness and economy. Mattresses are used in 
my family, winter and summer. We do not use 
feather beds—and we have now the wool and the 
cotton. In the summer, no one will prefer a 
wool mattress in my house, and in the winter, 
with a large blanket under the sheet, no one 
would know the difference, unless it is that cotton 
is most pleasant. These things are an old tale to 
the writer, having used them continuously for 
eighteen years, and he has written about them for 
ten years, and talked of them all the time. 
Sixty pounds of cotton will make the largest pos¬ 
sible mattress, and as there is no need of carding, it 
being whipped with a clean rod in each hand, and 
made up in a few hours, a cotton mattress of 50 or 60 
lbs. is worth, say $12 or $15. Sixty pounds of wool 
will not make so large a mattress. It is easier 
made when the wool is ready as the needle passes 
through more readily, but the washing, drying, and 
carding is worth at least the price of the cotton \ 
and then wool is worth at least thrice the price of 
the cotton. Let Cato lay aside Roman antiquities, 
and take up his arithmetic, and he will see where 
economy is. 
Sixty pounds is needed to make the mattress 
to fit what is termed a family bedstead, nearly 
square—and if 70 lbs. of wool were put in that 
sized mattress, it wrnuld be none too much. A 
well-made mattress, six inches thick, two on a bed¬ 
stead, with slats of plank underneath, need not be 
made over oftener than every four or five years— 
of course they should be sunned, and occasionally 
whipped clear of dust. A very good aid, is a slip 
to cover your mattresses. These slips can be wash¬ 
ed, and thus kept clean. Cotton vs . Wool. 
trict of Chekiang produce green teas, but it must 
not be supposed that they are the green teas which 
are exported. The leaf has a much more natural 
color, and has little or none of what we call the 
« beautiful bloom” upon it. which is so much ad¬ 
mired in Europe and America. There is now no 
doubt that all these blooming green teas, which 
are manufactured at Canton, are dyed with prussian 
blue and gypsum, to suit the taste of the foreign 
u barbarians ” Indeed, the process may be seen 
any day, during the season, by those who will give 
themselves the trouble to seek after it. It is very 
likely that the same ingredients are also used in 
dying the northern green teas for the foreign mar¬ 
ket ; of this, however, I am not quite certain. 
There is a vegetable dye obtained from the Chinese 
wo ad (Isatis indigotica ), much used in the northern 
districts, and called Tein-ching , and it is not unlike¬ 
ly that it may be the substance which is employ¬ 
ed. 
The Chinese never use these dyed teas themselves, 
and I certainly think their taste in this respect is 
more correct than ours. It is not to be supposed 
that the dye used can produce any very bad effects 
upon the consumer, for, had this been the case, it 
would have been discovered before now; but if en¬ 
tirely harmless, or inert, its being so must be ascribed 
to the very small quantity which is employed in the 
manufacture. 
When the teas are ready for sale, the large tea 
merchants, or their servants, come out from the prin¬ 
cipal towns of the district, and take up their quar¬ 
ters in all the little inns, or eating houses, which are 
very numerous in every part of the country. They 
also bring coolies loaded with the copper coin of 
the country, with which they pay for their pur¬ 
chases. As soon as the merchants are known to 
have arrived in the district, the tea growers bring 
their produce for inspection and sale. These little 
farmers, or their laborers, may now be seen hasten¬ 
ing along the different roads, each with two baskets, 
or chests, slung across his shoulder on his bamboo 
pole. When they arrive at the merchant’s abiding 
place, the baskets are opened before him, and the 
quality of the tea inspected. If he is pleased with 
its appearance and smell, and the parties agree as to 
the price, the tea is weighed, the money paid down, 
and the grower gets his strings of copper money 
slung over his shoulder, and returns to his farm. 
But should the price offered appear too low, the 
baskets are immediately shouldered with the greatest 
apparent independence, and carried away to some 
opposition merchant. It sometimes happens, how¬ 
ever, that a merchant makes a contract with some 
of the tea growers before the season commences, in 
which case the price is arranged in the usual way, 
and generally a part paid in advance. This, I un¬ 
derstand, is frequently the case at Canton when a 
foreign resident wishes to secure any particular 
kind of tea. 
After the teas are brought up in the district where 
they are grown, they are conveyed to the most con¬ 
venient town, where they are assorted and properly 
packed for the European and American markets. 
Such is the system of green-tea culture and manu¬ 
facture which came under my own observation in 
the province of Chekiang. 
Guano. —We should be glad to hear from some 
of our observing farmers who have used guano 
since its first introduction into this country. A 
systematic and well-authenticated statement of the 
value of this manure as an application to various 
crops and soils, and in different seasons and cir¬ 
cumstances, is still a desideratum with us. Infor¬ 
mation from intelligent, careful men would be 
invaluable as establishing its merits in comparison 
with other manures, and its durability and value to 
subsequent crops. From numerous experiments 
■with this popular fertilizer, important rules and 
principles may be deduced of great value to the 
economical agriculture of this country. 
Resources of the South. —A friend writes us, 
that a field of corn, of 140 acres, on his plantation, 
in Louisiana, averaged last year, 91 busheis per 
acre, making 12,740 bushels; and that his present 
crop will be equally good. Surely, with such re¬ 
sources as these at command, the south may at least 
supply itself with corn meal as well as with bacon; 
and any time the planters see fit, they can produce 
large quantities for exportation. 
