BEING A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE CULTURE OF THE PLANT, ITS PICKING, CLEANING, PACKING, SHIPMENT, AND MANUFACTURE. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY ROBERT LOGAN & CO., 51 DEY-STREET. 1855. OLIVER & BROTHER, Steam Printers , No. 32 Beckman-Street, New-York....

Among the utilitarian gifts of nature and art we know of none in more general use, or of greater practical value, than sewing-cotton. The taste which turns into graceful shapes the products of the loom, the executive skill which converts them into convenient and elegant apparel, would be powerless without this simple accessory. It is the food of the needle, and might almost be called the thread of life to thousands of the gentler sex. Yet as it passes through the delicate fingers of mothers, wiv

The cotton-planting season in all the Southern States commences in April. The seed is sown in drills, a negro girl following the light plough which makes the furrow, and throwing the seed into the shallow trench as she moves along. A harrow follows to cover up the deposits, and the work of "planting" is completed. About two and a half bushels of seed are required for an acre of ground. In a week or ten days the cotton is "up," when a small plough is run along the drills, throwing the earth from

The cotton, being packed, is to be sent to market. For this purpose it is "hauled," generally by oxen, to the nearest landing on the river, where the bales are rolled down the banks and stowed on board freight boats bound to New Orleans or Mobile. This process is technically called "bumping." There are certain plantations famous for the tenacious and beautiful quality of their cotton, from which the supplies for Dick & Sons' celebrated sewing-cotton mills at Glasgow are principally deriv

It would be difficult to describe the scene of bustle and seeming confusion presented by the levee at New Orleans when the bulk of the new crop begins to come in. The songs and clamor of the negro stevedores, at work in the holds and on the decks of the vessels; the sharp authoritative expletives of the overseers and masters; the eager conversations of the merchants, and the preternatural activity into which the occasion seems to have spurred all the energies of Southern life, are to Northern ea

DICK & SONS' CLYDE THREAD-MILLS. The view of the Clyde Thread-Mills , furnished by our engraver from accurate drawings taken on the spot, affords a very good idea of the extensive manufactory of Dick & Sons , from which this country is now supplied with the most perfect, even, and tenacious sewing-cotton made in the world. The cotton for the mills, after having been unloaded and inspected by the revenue officers, is conveyed at once to the mills, where there is an immense amount

A full description of the processes of scutching, carding, spinning, twisting, bleaching, and spooling, through all of which the cotton passes before it is packed for exportation in the form of thread, would require more space than we can devote to them in this treatise, and, moreover, would be rather dry reading for the ladies, for whose information and amusement this little publication is intended. It is sufficient to say, that all the latest improvements in machinery, in each of the above bra

The consignments of Dick & Sons' spool-cotton to this city are on a scale of magnitude which those who have never reflected upon the immense and universal consumption of the article would scarcely believe. The bulk of the importations is received by the Collins' line of steamers, and delivered at the Collins' wharf, whence it is conveyed to the New York agency of the firm, 51 Dey-street . To the trade it is unnecessary to say, that Dick & Sons' six-cord spool-cotton is the best i

The history of the culture of cotton, and of its application to the uses of man, forms an almost romantic episode in the annals of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. We have already mentioned the extraordinary impetus given to its production, sale, and use by the introduction of Whitney's saw-gin, for separating the seeds from the wool, in the years 1793 and 1794. Since that time the progress of the demand and consumption has been no less wonderful. In 1794 the export rose from 187,000 lbs