handful should always be sown in each hole; where it is scarce, and the land light, smaller quantity may suffice; 200 English acres would require from 800 to 1000 bushels Seed Cotton.

An acre will produce from 1,600 to 2,000 pounds Seed Cotton, (i. e. with the Seed) or 400 to 500 pounds clean or ginned Cotton, but this is a large yield; generally, on average soils, from 12 to 1,600 pounds Seed Cotton are produced to the acre. A bale of Cotton weighs from 350 to 400 pounds.

No. 2.

Paper on the Culture of Tobacco in Virginia.

I yesterday received your letter of the 24th instant, to which I take pleasure in immediately replying. Fifty pounds weight, or two bushels, of Tobacco Seed would be sufficient to plant the whole state of Virginia, some say a surface equal in extent to the United States; and that quantity cannot by any possibility be procured at this season, indeed it will be out of my power to obtain any quantity of value to you; but I have spoken to several of my friends in this place who grow Crops of To bacco; and have requested them to instruct their Overseers to leave as many plants as possible to run into Seed, which they have promised to do, and I shall write to all my acquaintance in the country to do the same, and prevail upon their neighbours to save as much as they cau. The Seed is never gathered, indeed is not ready till the fall of the year; and no Planter keeps on hand more than what is requisite for his own use. Respecting the culture of Tobacco, I shall communicate the process adopted throughout Virginia, premising, that success depends upon soil, situation, climate and seasons. New ground, virgin soil, produces the best description. Plantbeds for the reception of Seed are prepared in the full, in rather a moist situation, of pure vegetable mould minutely pulverised, entirely free from weeds; having the surface completely scorched by burning Brush-wood or shavings of wood upon it. The Seed is sown much after the manner of Cabbage Seed, about as thickly and as deeply and raked in this is done during the month of February. Early in May, according to the season, or during that month, the Plants are removed to the field and are placed out on hills raised above the surrounding surface from 8 to 12 inches, at distances varying according to the strength of the soil, from 3 by 4, to 4 by 5. Thus the rows are 4 feet a part, as with Indian Corn, and the hills in the row 3 feet distant from each other.

The Plants are allowed to stand unmolested till they begin to throw out suckers, which must be carefully removed by hand as often as they appear. By hoeing and ploughing all weeds must be kept under, as with Corn and Cabbages in a garden. When the Plant has thrown out eight or twelve well sized leaves, according to the strength or richness of the soil, it must be topped; by which is meant, if the ground be rich, twelve leaves may be left-if poor, only six or eight; the best way is to leave only six to ten. The Plants being kept free from worms or caterpillars, which prey upon them, are left to stand till they are perfectly ripe; this is determined by the thickness of the leaf, and the crackling sound produced by breaking it. They are then cut with a knife, and placed upon poles horizontally exposed to the sun for several days, till they die, and become of a yellow or brownish hue, care meantime being taken that they be not exposed to rains, or very heavy dews. From the field, hanging on the same poles, they are removed into log houses, and hung upon the roofs. Under them, during wet weather, slight fires are kept up, the smoke ascending from which dries the stem and prevents mould; after hanging thus for three or four weeks, the Plants are, when in a very dry state, taken from the poles and are carefully packed on the dry floor and covered with straw, to guard them from frost. If the winter be very wet, they are several times hung up, and dried partially with the smoke of wood fires, and replaced in bulk. Finally, in the month of May the plants are all hung up, and allowed to remain till a tolerably warm and moist day, when they are taken down, and the leaves, being stript from the stalk, are tied up in bundles of 6 to 7 leaves each, with a leaf binding them together, and are thus packed carefully into Hhds. 12 to 1500 pounds are put into each Hhd. the butt-ends of the Tobacco touching the Cask, and the point directed upwards to the centre.

Smoking is injurious; and if the season be sufficiently dry and warm, it is better to cure the Tobacco entirely by the aid of the sun.

No. 3.

Statement of the best method of cultivating New Orleans Cotton.

The cultivation is simple, and easily understood, so that a few general directions will suffice to describe our manner of preparing a Cotton field, and the care and attention requisite to keep it free from weeds and grass.

1st. As to the most suitable soil for growing fine Cotton, I should prefer that which is rich, light and dry; but it is generally thought that new land does not produce as fine a quality of Cotton as that which has borne one or two crops of grain previously. The situation should be such that there is no danger of an overflow of water, which would seriously i jure the plant. In preparing the ground we use only the plough and lay off the rows from four to six feet, and where the soil is as rich as the alluvion of the low ground on the Mississippi, even eight feet is not too much. We open the ridges by running a narrow drill by plough or otherwise, and sow the Seed in it, as we would grain, covering it lightly with a harrow.

The plant on its first appearance and for some weeks is extremely delicate, and easily injured by careless working. The rows at first thickly covered with plants must in about ten days be thinned out, so as to leave the stalks single at the distance of eleven inches or a foot from each other, or, as some of the plants may be lost or destroyed, we generally leave two or three together; but in about two weeks more at furthest, they must be reduced to one, as experience has proved that the plants will not flourish if at all crowded. While thinning the rows, great care must be taken to clear them of all grass and weeds in the early age of the Cotton-this is done with the hoe; in a short time after, to facilitate the work, we use ploughs between the rows, where every thing must he kept down, and not a blade of grass should be suffered to grow indeed to obtain a good crop of Cotton, strict attention is required to rule, not to suffer any thing to grow among the plants until it is fully matured.

The time of planting or rather sowing our Cotton varies according to the season; ge nerally we begin from the first of April to the fifteenth ; as a rule, I would say as soon as there is no danger of frost.

These general observations, I trust, will be sufficient indeed it is impossible to ailf in obtaining a Cotton crop, provided the ground be kept perfectly clean, and the plants be not crowded. The quality of the Cotton depends more perhaps upon care and attention in gathering and drying it, than upon the culture of the plant.

From the first of September, or sooner, the bolls begin to mature and open successively until winter has stopped the vegetation of the plant. As soon as the boll has completely opened, the Cotton which then hangs partly out of its shell, and has become almost dry, must be gathered by hand, care must be taken by the gatherer (or picker as we call the laborer) to take hold with his fingers of all the different looks of the Cotton, so that the whole may come out at once, and without breaking off any of the dry leaves about the boll; if any dry leaves fall upon the Cotton before the gatherer has secured his handful in the bag which hangs at his side, they must carefully be taken off. It is necessary to use a close bag, to gather the Cotton, as the plant, though still flourishing, has on it, many dead and dry leaves which are easily shaken down, and it is this admixture of leaves which is objected to so much by the spinner, and will always lower the quality and price of Cotton. After gathering the Cotton it should as soon as possible be exposed to the sun on scaffolds, and thoroughly dried; and if not immediately ginned and packed, it must be stored in secure barns.

I deem it useless to enter into a description of our gins and presses, as they are manufactured and well understood in England; I shall only observe that a cylinder of sixty bags ought not to make more than 600 or 800 pounds of clear Cotton in 12 hours-if made to run faster, the Cotton would not be so clean, and the folines might often be broken or cut by the too rapid motion of the bags.

Resolved, that the letter of Government, and the extracts which accompanied it, be referred to the Agricultural Committee, which is requested to take the whole into consideration, and to report to the Society, at the next Meeting, its sentiments on the whole clauses of the letter, when a reply will be framed and forwarded to Go

vernment.

Resolved, that the Secretary be requested to write to Captain Forbes, sending him extracts from the above papers, which relate to the Saw Gins, and requesting to be informed, whether it has reached him, and is ready for inspection.

Resolved, that Mr. Kyd be chosen a Member of the Committee of Papers.

The President laid before the Society, papers on the cultivation of the Mulberry Tree and the rearing of Silk Worms, according to the Chinese and French methods, by Miss Davy, in which the writer gives a decided preference to the Chinese me. thod.

Read a letter from Mr. Pakenham, enclosing a paper by Mr. Mallet, of Balasore, on the Cotton plantation at that place, from which a specimen had been sent to the Society in the beginning of May last, and on which several members of the Committee, also Mr. Finlay, of Gloster Works, had given their opinion.

Resolved, that the Secretary be requested to write to Government, soliciting to be furnished with all the information which they possess regarding the Tenasserim Cotton, of the Seed of which a number of bags were lately sent to the Society for distribution.

Read a letter from Mr. Sheppard, of Liverpool, dated 14th December last, which accompanied 600 grafted Fruit Trees, of sorts, shipped on the Brig Indian.

The Secretary informed the Meeting, that on the arrival of these trees he had forwarded the whole of the correspondence and lists to the Secretary of the Garden Committees, as well as the boxes of plants to the Allipore Garden.

Mr. Minchin stated, that he had been requested by Sir Robert Colquhoun, Secre tary of the Garden Committee, to submit to the Meeting the following proposition of that Committee, regarding the future disposal of Europe imported Fruit Trees. Resolved, that the proposal be adopted by the Society

Mr. Minchin further stated, that this importation of Fruit Trees had almost entirely failed, not 15 remaining alive; and on the part of the Garden Committee he propos ed that in future the importation of these should be altered and modified.

Resolved, that the proposal of the Garden Committee be adopted, and the Secre. tary be requested to write in terms of it, to England, and elsewhere, for our future supplies.

Mr. Minchin further stated the wishes of the Committee to be allowed to expend the sum of Rs. 150 in raising a wall for the culture of grape vines, and Rs. 100 in repairing the conservatory, bullock sheds, and mallies' houses destroyed by the late gales.

Resolved, that these two sums be granted to the Garden Committee.

Read the following letter from Captain Sage, of Dinapore:

To C. K. ROBISON, ESQ.

Secretary to the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, Calcutta. SIR,-As a Member of the Society to which you are Secretary, I have to propose that as the situation of this place is admirably adapted for the establishment of a Branch or provincial Society of Agriculture and Horticulture, it is the intention of the few Members of the Society at this place to appropriate a plot of ground for the purposes of a Nursery Vegetable and Fruit Garden, should our proposition meet with the sanction and be supported by the fostering care of the Parent Society.

2nd. The abandonment of the Poosah Garden we understand to have been occasioned by the heavy expence it entailed on the Society. This will not be a matter of objection to the one now proposed, as we calculate upon no pecuniary assistance whatever from the Society; on the contrary, it is not unlikely we may be able to add to its treasury.

3d. From the Parent Society we should look for Seeds, Fruit, Trees, Plants, &c. not as absolute gifts, but rather as depositon liable to be appropriated as the Society shail see fit, when the differenet Fruits of Europe and China shall have been grafted on country stocks and inured to the climate.

4th. We also consider that grafts and seeds furnished from our intended Nursery will be better suited to the climate, both above and below us, than when subject to a more sudden change of temperature; and this observation applies equally to Nepaul, from winch country it is our intention to procure whatever is rare and valuable, and endeavour to assimilate them to the climate of this place previously to transmit ting them to your Gardens, or to the Upper Provinces.

5th. Constant water carriage both up and down, as also through several branch streams, seems to point out this place as better calculated for a depot, than any other; the constant passing of strangers, both up and down the river, a populous neighbourhood in Tirhoot, Sarun and Shahabad, will bring the Nursery into notice, and we hope afford a sufficiency of Members to ensure the permanency of our intended undertaking, which cannot fail to be productive of great and extensive advantages to the country around us.

oth. It will remain for the Society, after due consideration, to authorize us to admit Subscribers, who shall be considered as Members of the Parent Society as well as of the Dinapore Provincial Society, and from whose contributions we consider we shall

acquire a sufficient revenue, not only to cover the expences of our own Nursery, but, as before remarked, to assist the Parent Society.

I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obdt. Servant,

(Signed)

WM. SAGE, Dinapore, May 25. 1830.

Resolved, that the proposal of Captain Sage be approved of and that the Secretary reply to the proposition.

Read a letter from Mr. H. H. Wilson, forwarding to the Society a Peach, the growth of his garden at Hasting's place, under the care of Mr. Davies, which weigh ed 10 sicca weight.

Resolved, that the Secretary be requested to get the Advertisement regarding the Premiums for the successful cultivation of Cotton, Tobacco, Silk and Sugar, which had been translated into Bengalee and Persian, transmitted to the Upper Provinces.

Baboo Radacanth Deb presented the following paper, which he thought might be highly useful to the cultivators of Cotton in this country; and although he was not able to state who the author of the "Suggestions" is, he was of opinion that the Society would confer a benefit by giving them every publicity :

Suggestions for the Culture and Preparation of Cotton.

Cotton grows in auy soil that is not over moist. The common opinion, however, that it flourishes most in barren or impoverished land, is erroneous. It will, doubtless, grow in arid soils, not exhausted by previous cultivation; yet there cannot be a doubt that it will prove more productive in good or middling land, consisting of loose dry mould, free from clay or marl. If the inclination of the land be sufficient to carry off the water, the labour of trenching and draining, which is necessary in level lands, will be saved. As no plant requires so little rain as Cotton, the close vicinity of high mountains is injurious to it, while it is beneficial to the Coffee. On the other hand, the saline air of the sea-shore, which generally destroys Coffee, 18 favourable to Cotton.

The land for Cotton must be cleared in the dry season; and the operations should commence in sufficient time to allow the wood and brush, which have been cut down, to dry so as to be burned before the rains set in. The more completely the ground is cleared, the more productive is the Cotton likely to be.

In situations where the rains are not violent, the Cotton Seed is generally put into the ground at an early period of the rainy season. But in places differently circumstanced, this operation is deferred till the rains are within a month or two of their termination; with a view both to guard against an over-luxuriant vegetation, whereby the plants night exhaust their strength in branches and leaves, and to avoid the injurious consequences of rain at the time the blossoms are appearing and the pods forming.

In Georgia and Carolina, considerable labour is bestowed in ploughing and har rowing the ground, and forming ridges, raised pretty high, with trenches between. This, no doubt, assists vegetation, and at the same time serves to carry off the water from the flat lands. The same thing is done, though less carefully, with hoes, in Demerara and Berbice: but is seldom done in the West India Islands. There, however, the fields are regularly laid out, and the holes opened in straight lines. The distance between the holes varies from five feet in poor soils to eight feet in rich soils. The holes are made by loosening the earth for about eight or nine inches or a foot square, and five or six inches deep. From fifteen to sixteen seeds, spread longitudinally, may be put into each hole and covered over lightly with earth, not above one or two inches deep at most. The more moist the ground is, the more lightly should the seed be covered, otherwise it will be apt to rot. The plants will generally show themselves in from five to nine days, but some times not before fourteen. When they have four distinct leaves, half the number in each hole may be drawn, and these must afterwards be gradually reduced, until only one, and that the most vigorous and healthy plaut, is left in each hole. For the first six weeks the plants are of slow growth, and very tender; and they must be carefully kept clear of weeds until they become of sufficient size to suppress all extraneous growth. It would be of great service also, that the earth should be occasionally drawn up about the roots, until the blossoms appear, when this operation is no longer necessary. At the end of six weeks, if not before, the plants, if luxuriant, ought to be topped or pruned, by breaking or cutting off an inch or more from the end of each shoot, which make the stems spread and throw out a greater number of branches. And this operation, if the plants are very luxuriant, will require to be performed a second or even a third time, with a knife, on the stem and branches.

The blossoms generally appear in about eighty days after the seed has been planted, and sometimes later; and the first pods arrive at maturity in about three months from that time. The blossom of the green seed, when it first appears, which is generally in the morning, is white, and remains of that colour for the first twelve hours; but it changes the following night to a beautiful crimson, and drops off within thirty-six hours of its first appearance. That of the Black Seed, or Sea Island, undergoes the same change with the green, but when it first comes out it is of a deep yellow colour.

The Cotton should be fully blown before it is picked. This may be ascertained by its separating easily from the pod of husk. When it adheres to the pod, and must be forced from it, the Cotton will be of an inferior quality. Great care should be taken to gather it as free from trash or dirt of any kind as possible, which will save much trouble afterwards in the cleaning. Cotton ought not to be picked after rain, or while wet, as in that case it will be stained, and of little value. In gathering the crop, particular care should be taken to keep the stained and dirty Cotton separate from the more perfect, which may be done by each labourer having two bags, one for the stained and inferior, the other for good Cotton. The value of the latter would thus be greatly increased; and even the inferior would always find a market in England.

The next operation is that of separating the Cotton Wool from the seed. Of all the modes of effecting this, hand-picking is doubtless the best, because the most favourable state in which Cotton can be, for all manufacturing purposes, is, with the exception of being freed from the seed, that in which it is gathered from the plant. Whatever serves to entangle or mat the fibres, is injurious; because, when matted, they require in carding a greater force to separate them; and the effect of this is to break the staple, and otherwise to produce waste, and inconvenience to the manufacturer: besides which, a fine, clear, even thread, can hardly ever be produced from matted Cotton.

The process of separating the seed from the Cotton Wool by the hand, is in general attended with so much expense as to be impracticable: though in India, perhaps, for the cheapness of labour, the difficulty may be less.

Machines

have therefore been substituted for this purpose, called Gins, of which the com mon Foot Gin is probably the best. There is another kind, calculated to work by cattle, wind, or water, which may be introduced with advantage, but is more expensive and complicated.

The Black Seed, being loosely attached to the wool, is easily separated by the Gin, without injury to the staple. The Green Seed, on the contrary, adheres so closely to the wool, that it can only be separated by a Saw Gin, which cuts the staple, and depreciates the Cotton nearly one half; but if hand-picked, it would be more valuable. The Green Seed is more productive than the Black; but the wool of the latter is of considerably higher value. It is hardly necessary to observe, that that mode of ginning is to be preferred which tends least to break the seeds and entangle the fibres of the Cotton.

After the Cotton has been ginned, it should be carefully examined, and freed from all notes, broken seeds, stained wool, &c., as its value in Europe depends much on the condition in which it is packed.

The plants should be cut down every year within three or four inches of the ground. The time for doing this, which must be in the rainy season, ought to be regulated by the same circumstances which regulate the planting of the seed at first; and the subsequent management in this case will also be the same as has been alrea dy pointed out in the case of plants from the seed. It would be a great advantage, if every third, fourth, or fifth year at furthest, the plants were grubbed out, and their places supplied by means of fresh seed brought from a distance. This would prevent the Cotton from degenerating, which it never fails to do when it has been propagated in the same ground for many years without a change of seed, and would of course preserve its quality and maintain its reputation in the European markets. Great care should be taken to prevent a mixture of the different kinds of seed in planting. Each kind should be kept perfectly distinct.

The process called switching, or beating the dirt out of the Cotton, by means of sticks, ought, if possible, never to be resorted to. The necessity of having recourse to this expedient, which can only arise from previous negligence, ought to be obviated by the means already pointed out: it deteriorates the quality, and consequently lowers the price of the Cotton.

In the gathering and hand-picking, and even ginning of Cotton, great use may be made both of young children and infirm people, who are incapable of exertion of any other kind. The Meeting adjourned to the 7th July next.