Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-09-03
Nicaragua as n Cotton. Field Letter from
the American Miniater in NicnrnHuN.

the American Minister in NicarhGuU.
The offer of the Nicaraguan Government
to grant lands in that country for the culture
OF cotton, is published on our first page to-
day. The Albany EUeniag Journal of yes
terday has O letter from MIR. Dickinson, the
American Minister in Nicaragua, setting
forth the natural advantages of the country
for the production of an excellent quality of
cotton. We copy his letter.
LEON, July 8, 1861.
According to promise, will give you
brief description of portion of Nicaragua,
and shall content my self with plain nara
tive of facts as l find them, believing the
simple truth to be far preferable to the most
beautiful overwrought picture, though con-
ceived by the most vivid imagination and
drawn by the hand of a msster-worker.
The soil is good beyond description for the
growth Of cotton, indigo, and most tropical
| plants, besides corn, (Which grows wherever
| il has ninety days of hot sun without FROST }
| Two, and sometimes three crops of corn are
| grown on the same ground in single year,
| without much care; and where the corn is
! now ripening cotton is designed to planted
| the last of this or the first of next month.
/ The forepart of September is the proper time
| to plant cotton here, as it will mature in time
| to he gathered in the dry season. | am
satisfied, from what have learned by in
| quiry and observation, that cotton can be
| grown 10 great advantage in this country.
saw the gin at work at the establishment OF
Messrs. Russell & Fitzgerald, in Chinendegs,
| cleaning what | regarded as an excellent
quality of cotton. They are Americans, who
intend planting one hundred acres them
selves this season, and are giving way to
others all the seed that is wanted for plant
ing.
| North Americans can labor here and teach
the inhabitants how 10 cultivate the soil and
raise cotton enough to supply the United
States and most of the Test of the world
without slave labor. l very much doub
whether there can be found upon the face o.
the globe O soil and climate combined which
ale better adapted to its growth than the
sol and climate of Nicaragua. All that il
lacking is forty or fifty American families
tlom the free States, or a sufficient numbe
TO settle in each district TO give life aud en-
, teIprse to the native families. These fami
lies should have their own mechanics an
implements with them, to fashion and direC
The trade and industry of the country, an
create and call forth additional necessities
comforts ana luXuries, which the people d
not now possess, but which, when once in
troduced, they would not do without. Th
people vents to be aroused and stimulated
! action They live here honestly with les
labor than anywhere else on the face of tn
earth. Whoever is content With enough
eat and drink can be ahurdantly supple
from the fruits which grow wild Throughout
! the country, and are as free as the air b
breatbes. But man wants and is entitled {
something more.
do not believe a country can be foun
where few hundred or houssrd honest, in
retligent working men could do more to ben
eft themselves and the native iuhabitanl
than here, where there is no more use to
worthless, drinking, idle vagabonds who al
always attending to every'body's busineS
but their own, than in any other decent, re
spectacle country. There is, however, muc
to be done to make it ready for growing col
ton or any thing else on a large scale; 70
no more than one-hundredth part of th
country is cultivated, and some of 1t is tn
most dense forest ever saw, though not I'll
heaviest for clearing. The timber is nc
usually tall, though some of it is very larg'
The underground is, in places, 80 thick wit
vines and annual plants that a bird ca
scarcely fly through it, Land is exceedingl
cheap, and there is sufficient mahogany, cedf
. and Brazil-wood in. the forests to pay #
clearing, at prices they must always con
y mand. The Government is in the mai
i good, and is administered with the most rigi
economy: taxes are accordingly light.
have seen no wheat growing in the country
though | understand there are some portion
; where it is grown 10 advantage. Nor have
I, seen potatoes or any kind of North America
! grass, or thistes, or mullen, or many othC
J plants, which do not believe will ever gro
y here Grass can, undoubtedly, be cultivate
to some extent. In fact the soil will produC
any thing which can be grown in such
= climate.
! Your devoted friend,