The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-21 00:00:00

HOPE FOR LANCASHIRE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—There is hope for Lancashire manufacturers
arising from a new quarter. It is, I admit, only
"a cloud' at present " as big as a man's hand," but
it will increase and spread in a manner little ex-
pected by unreflecting observers. Not very many
years ago an officer's wife took some grass seed
from Africa to feed her birds in Jamaica. The ac-
cumulations at the bottom of the bag were every
day thrown out at the window. By-and-bye sheep,
goats, and cows were frequently seen under the
window feeding on something green. On exami-
nation, it was found that the bird-seed had vege-
tated, and that a new kind of grass had attracted
the cattle on the estate. The spot on which it
grew was enclosed, and both seed and cuttings from
the grass•stalks were sought after and sown or
planted. Tens of thousands of acres of Guinea
grass have since been planted, so that now few pens
or estates are without fields of this excellent food
for all kinds of cattle. The same thing has arisen
from the introduction of a few mango trees from
the South Seas. Mango trees of various kinds are
now found on almost every estate in the West
Indies, especially in Jamaica; and ❑ot only men
but cattle feed and fatten on this fruit. Poultry,
too, feed on it; and the kernels of the stones are
devoured with eagerness by pigs, who come by
droves in the season when they are found in the
greatest abundance.
In like manner, unless I am greatly mistaken, a
bag of tree cotton seed, sent by Earl Russell to
Jamaica from Peru, at the instigation, and for the
use of, the Jamaica Cotton Company, will lead to
the cultivation of this extraordinary tree on all the
mountains of that island. It seems it may be grown
either from seed or cuttings, and, according to ex-
periments made by Mr. Kendal, an American far-
mer, it will grow and flourish wherever Indian corn
or maize will ripen. This gentleman states that he
saw in the valley of the Chipura a perfect specimen
of the gossipium arborium. "its foliage had long
been shed, but the pods remained, having fully
burst, and turned their spotless buds into almost
perfect roses, which covered the entire structure
with a dense mass of spotless glossy cotton. I had
never seen anything eve❑ approaching in perfection
that solitary tree." " Having no facilities for
gathering and weighing the yield of that individual
tree, my estimate was of course only an approxi-
mate conjecture ; but I would not be willing to fall
below 1001bs. as the amount of clean lint afforded
by the cone having a diameter of 12ft. at the base,
and measuring a trifle over 18ft. from base to

apex."
Now, as I have myself picked excellent cotton
from perennial shrubs 2,500 ft. above the level of
the sea in Jamaica, I cannot doubt that this tree-
cotton will also flourish there, and if it does the ele-
vated and most healthy mountains of that country
will in a very few years be covered with cotton
plantations, cultivated with safety to health and
certainty of profit by European settlers. Perhaps
there is no finer climate in the world than in
these mountains, and that was the opinion expressed
to me by the late Lord Metcalfe, who resided in one
of them, and confirmed by my own experience
during a residence of six years on another. I had
a garden on the very top of one in which corn, po-
tatoes, peas, beans, and almost all European as
well as tropical vegetables grow in the utmost
luxuriance, and I see no reason whatever to doubt
that if the cotton seed we have obtained should, as
we may fairly expect, be of the kind described by
Mr. Kendal, those who have procured and intro-
duced it will have conferred the greatest possible
benefit not only on Jamaica, but on our Lancashire
manufacturers and landowners, who must at last
feed and clothe the people unless additional sup.
plies of the raw material can be found for their pro-
fitable employment. Only by the last mail we re-
ceived a letter from the Rev. Mr. Foote, a Wes-
leyan missionary at Manchioniel, Jamaica, where
our experiments are now being carried on, in which
he states as fellows :
" On Monday last I rode over the cotton fields in com-
pany with Mr. G. Codrington and Mr. rinke. I was de-
lighted boyond the power of expression; delightel to find
that the two pieces of Egyptian cotton on either side of the
public road, which looked so shabby and ragged, are about
the poorest pieces, or about the second poorest, in the lot.
A sad mistake, at least a misfortune, as travellers judge by
those two pieces, and report, as they travel through the
island, that it is all a delusion and a snare.' But let inch
persons only spare the time, and take the trouble, as I did
on Monday, a d traverse glades, climb hills, and descend
valleys, or stand on the mountain sides, and see the heL,rty
healthy, blooming, thickly-bearing green seeds—sea islands,
silk cotton, and New Orleans, then if he be a patriot, he
will exult; if he be a Christian, ho will silently breathe a
cl.,xology to heaven ; if he be at all interested in the conso-
lidated success of the cotton company he will have his de-
sires exchanged for confirmed faith that the Jamaica Cot-
ton Company is un fait accompli. And when you can in-
flu. nce others to unite in the good work, and plant, as you
said, at Bristol 10,000 acres, the question will be for ever
sot at rest, and our export 3 of the cAton, which Mr.
Wicker's people found so nice to work up, will b.: a grand
fact. God speed ye."
I believe his Excellency Sir Charles Darling, who
has planted 83 acres of cotton on an adjoining
estate, Weybridge, has received equally encourag-
ing and satisfactory accounts.—Yours faithfully,
STEPHEN BOURNE.
Jamaica Cotton Company's Office,
55, Charing-cross, London,
Jan, 20.
P.S.—We have requested our friends to ship us
immediately to Manchionel sufficient tree cotton
seed to enable us to plant 3,000 acres of land.
Should they succeed in procuring it, and it should
when planted yield for the first year or two only a
twentieth part of the quantity estimated by Mr.
Kendal, we shouel be able to supply seed enough
to plant 100,000 acres next year. And so much
might easily be put in if every Lancashire manufac-
turer would come forward at once and risk £5O in
our undertaking. There is mountain land enough
in Jamaica now lying waste to give cotton to the
extent of a million bales annually of far better qua-
lity than East Indian or even American cotton.
Why wait for Government interference, or go
15,000 miles for that which may be procured within
a month's sail or three weeks' steam from Liverpool ?