of major-general, and to be governor-general of the French possessions in India. He left several sons; two perished in the unfortunate expedition of La Peyrouse, and one of them lived to be known under the reign of Louis XVIII., as Marquis de Lauriston, a lieutenant-general, and a peer of France. We have followed Law through all the phases of his eventful career, until crossing with him the "Bridge of Sighs," we have left him dying in Venice, that sea of Cybele, with her "tiara of towers, the revel of the earth-the masque of Italy." A fit tomb for such a man! Now that the last act of this varied drama has been played, let the curtain drop, leaving to the judgment of impartial posterity the memory of John Law, of Edinburgh.

The government of Louisiana had been transferred to the Mississippi Company; Bienville a second time had been appointed governor, and the settlement of New-Orleans had been accomplished. The colony, laboring under many difficulties, and fettered by the unwise legislation of those who governed its destiny in the mother country, seems to have advanced somewhat in importance, and increased in population.

There follows a chapter of much interest on the origin, customs, manners and traditions of the Natchez, a race of Indians who were far in the advance of the other tribes in intelligence and civilization. In 1724, the colony was again deprived of the valuable services of Bienville by his recall to France to answer charges preferred against him by some of the officials of the colony. Indeed, these internal dissensions appear to have been from the first one of the greatest obstacles to its prosperity. He was succeeded, however, by one better qualified for the position than many of those to whom its destiny was for a time entrusted. This was Perier, who devoted himself with some energy to the fulfilment of the important duties devolving upon him. We cannot, however, accord him the virtue of mercy, or tenderness of heart, since he caused the massacre of some thirty unoffending and defenceless Indians, and relates it without compunction or apology; neither can we admire his ideas of honor and good faith, when we recall his treachery to the Natchez chiefs at Lake Catahoula. Perier was ably seconded by the king's commissary, De la Chaise. In 1729 occurred that terrible massacre of the French by the Natchez, induced entirely by the folly and unreasonable exactions of the commander of that post. In 1731, the company, growing weary of the unprofitable task of colonizing Louisiana, yielded back to the king their charter. In 1733 Bienville returned again to Louisiana as governor, which office he held until 1743, when for the third and last time he was displaced from this position, to make room for the Marquis de Vaudreuil. With this event closes Mr. Gayarre's “Louisiana, its History as a French Colony."

The reader will find, throughout the second part of Mr. Gayarre's work, a marked improvement over the former in manner and in matter; as a history, it is more connected, and its incidents of romance more appositely introduced. We must regret, however, that the author has not thought fit to furnish his readers with references to the authorities from which he derives his text. This is a right which the

studious reader feels he may always with justice demand of an author; and the absence of such references occasions a feeling of disappointment which takes from the interest of the book. We hope that this fault may be remedied in a future edition, as well as in the volume which we are informed will succeed the one before us, and which is now in press.

There are other faults which, without being over captious, we might find with Mr. Gayarre's work; for example, his frequent indulgence of personification and exclamation, his occasional redundancy, and above all, the retention of the preface which introduced the publication of the first part a year or two ago, and which, whatever its merits in any other place, is certainly devoid of dignity and appropriateness in this. These objections, however, take nothing from our high estimate of the general merits of the publication, and of its claims upon the community for a wide and liberal encouragement. The author has labored long in the service of his native state. He has prepared and published a laborious history of it in the French language, which, so far as remuneration was concerned, has proved but a labor of love. In the future, we wish him some more substantial evidences of favor than were accorded to that history. We believe that he will find them in the present volume, and that which is immediately to follow. S. R. W.

ART. II.-COTTON-DISEASES OF THE PLANT AND THEIR REMEDIES.

WHEN the time comes for planting another cotton crop, the mind naturally reverts back to the many diseases and disasters which have befallen the plant for the last ten or twelve years. In fact, diseases and disasters have become so numerous, as to cause the planters to look forward to the time when they will be compelled to cease the cultivation of cotton altogether, and pursue some other occupa tion. My object in this communication is to name them, and to give my planting friends my observations, hoping to obtain from them (through your Review) their views in regard to the same matters, of so much interest to us all, and also to attract the attention of entomologists. In my opinion, the diseases of the cotton plant are always attributable to the variety of insects that feed and live upon its fluids, thereby causing an unhealthy circulation in the plant, and blasting the prospects of rich harvests. The first of disasters by the insect family, take place in the spring, (in this latitude 340,) from the 25th of April to the 5th of May. I allude to the " cut-worms," which are frequently so numerous as to destroy whole fields of the young plant, when from five to six bushels of seed have been sown per acre. They are also very destructive in gardens, destroying all kinds of plants, making no difference, when pressed by hunger, as to the properties contained in them; but when surrounded by a variety, they feed upon those that contain the greatest quantity of

saccharine matter: consequently, the young" cotton plant" commands their preference. Various experiments have been made to exterminate them from fields and gardens; some, by turning upon them hogs and poultry, during the winter season; others, by the use of spade and plough, during the same season, that they may experience the effects of freezing-all of which have proved unavailing. I have made an experiment that has proved successful for the last five or six years, both in farm and garden. I plant in my fields a double quantity of seed, say ten bushels per acre, scattering them "broad-cast," with a view to feed the worms and have enough left-the same plan works equally well in gardens. I cultivate my gardens in the usual manner, when, about the tenth of April, I sow upon a garden of one acre 30 or 40 bushels of cotton seed, scattered over walks, among plants, &c. In the course of ten days, the seeds having germinated, the garden presents the appearance of a plant bed. It remains in this condition until about the 5th May, when what cotton is left is cut up, leaving the most of the garden plants unharmed. They are not disposed to travel when they can find anything green near them. Their term of life is short, say ten days, when they pass into the chrysalis; the same length of time transpires when they pass into the butterfly stage. I would here remark, when I wish to plant a new variety of cotton, and cannot afford to pay for seed to be sown so abundantly, I plant seed of the more common kind in the middle of the row and sides of the bed, giving time for them to sprout, that the worm may begin to feed on them. I then mark off the bed, and plant the more valuable seed. In this way, I have been able to get good "stands," of fine varieties of seed, with two bushels per acre. Next to the worm comes the "cotton louse;" they, for the last ten years, (with one exception, 1840, when they made their appearance 20th June, and remained until the 10th of July, yet seasons favored, and fine crops were made,) have made their appearance from the 20th to the 25th May, and remained until the 5th June, when they begin to leave the plant, after killing and destroying from one-third to half that has been left by the hoe for a stand. They have been so regular in their appearance for the last ten years, that my orders to my managers are now, not to reduce "the stand" below, from four to six stalks to the hill, until the 5th of June, at which time you can easily distinguish the plants that have been most injured by their poisonous ravages, whilst the more healthy plants may remain. They are more numerous in cold, wet springs. How they are brought into existence, is a wonder to all who have examined the cotton fields during their stay upon the plant. Some contend that they are a species of ant; others, of the lady-bug; others still, that the ants destroy them; but will not pretend to advance an idea, as to how they receive their existence. When first discovered, they are mere yellow specks; they soon crawl, and are busy moving about. Next, they assume a black appearance, and become quite dormant; in ten days this black shell opens, and they, like the cut-worm, or caterpillar, fly off, resembling the gnat, or winged ants. My own opinion, from observation, is, that the ant feeds on them; at least, we never see lice on a plant

without seeing on the same numerous ants and lady-bugs. Whether the aphis, which emits the honey-dew, is among the crowd, and attracts the ants, we are not sufficiently versed in entomology to decide -we would be gratified to read a treatise on plant-lice, lady-bugs, and aphis, from some of your intelligent correspondents. I have not a remaining doubt, but that they cause the rust, which at one time I attributed to the want of some chemical property in the soil, and had determined to have it tested, by having some of the soil analyzed; before I had an opportunity of testing the matter, however, I was convinced that such was not the case, from the fact that every variety of soil was affected in the same way. The rust is at all times the most fatal of diseases to the plant. It cannot be doubted that the rust poisons the plant, by extracting the sap, which leaves it in an unhealthy condition. The ant makes its appearance next. It has no regular time for its coming. I have seen it as early as the middle of May, and from that time till the middle of July, on from one to ten stalks, when it assumes a more formidable shape, spreading over entire plantations in the course of three or four weeks. If produced by insects, might they not be destroyed during the first two months, when they are confined to a few stalks in a place, by sifting lime over the stalks affected, early in the morning, whilst the plant is moist with dew? We have known gardeners to use lime in this way, to drive insects from plants, with great success. It would not cost much labor, if taken at the commencement of the disease::—we have bought a few barrels of lime for the purpose of making the experiment; but of course do not intend to apply these remarks to the prairie lands, where the rust is confined to certain spots every year, owing (we suppose) to a want of moisture, as we generally see it on those spots of ground where the limestone rock approaches near the surface. In the flat lands of South Carolina and Georgia-or "flat woods," as they are called-we suppose the cause to be the same as with us, as there is some similarity between those lands and some parts of the Valley of the Mississippi. Nothing could be of so much advantage to the cotton interest as the discovery of some remedy, either to arrest or prevent the various diseases to which the plant has of late years become so liable.

Do "cotton lice" belong to the family of "blights" described by Rusticus? He says, (in a letter on Blights,') "I have taken a good deal of pains to find out the birth and parentage of true blights; and for this purpose have watched, day after day, the colonies of them in my own garden, and single ones which I have kept 'indoors,' and under tumblers turned up-side down. The increase is prodigious; it beats everything of the kind that I have ever seen, or heard of. Insects in general come from an egg-then turn to a caterpillar, which does nothing but cat-then to a chrysalis, which does nothing but sleep-then to a perfect beetle or fly, which does nothing but increase its kind; but blights' proceed altogether on another system-the young ones born exactly like the old ones, but less. They stick their beaks through the rind, and begin drawing sap, when only a day old, and go on quietly sucking away for days; and then, all at once, without love, courtship, or matrimony, each individual

begins bringing forth young ones, and continues to do so for months, at the rate of from a dozen to eighteen every day, and yet continues to increase in size all the while; there seem to be no males-no drones-all bring forth alike. Early in the year, these blights' are scattered along the stems; but as soon as the little ones come to light, and commence sap-sucking close to their mother, the spaces get filled up, and the old ones look like giants among the rest-when all the spare room is filled up, and the stalk completely covered. The young ones, on making their final appearance in the world, seem rather posed as to what to be at, and stand quietly on the backs of the others for an hour or so; then, as if having made up their minds, they toddle upwards, walking on the backs of the whole flock, till they arrive at the upper end of the shoot, and then settle themselves quietly down, as close as possible to the outermost of their friends, and then commence sap-sucking like the rest. The flock by this means extends in length every day, and at last the growing shoot is overtaken by the multitude, and completely covered to the very tip. Towards autumn, however, the blights' undergo a change in their nature; their feet stick close to the rind-their skin opens along the back, and a winged blight comes out, the summer generations being generally wingless. These are male and female, and fly about, and enjoy themselves; and, what seems scarcely credible, the winged females lay eggs: and, whilst this operation is going on, a solitary winged blight may be observed on the under side of the leaves, or on the young shoots, particularly on the hop, and differing from all its own progeny in being winged, and nearly black, whereas its progeny are green, and without wings. These are mysteries which I leave for entomologists to explain. In May a fly lays a lot of eggs; these eggs hatch, and become blights; these blights' are viviparous, and that without the usual union of the sexes, and so are their children and grandchildren-the number of births depending solely on the quantity and quality of their food. At last, as winter approaches, the whole generation, or series of generations, assumes wings, which the parents did not possess; undergoes frequently a change in color; and in the spring, instead of being viviparous, lays eggs.'

This description by a celebrated entomologist, somewhat resembles the kind of insect which, in my opinion, produces the diseases alluded to. Their making an appearance in small quantities in May and June, then in mid-summer extending so rapidly, sustains me in this position.

He also speaks of the skin of the insect opening on the back, and turning to a winged guat, which is the case with the kind we describe, except that ours open, say in twenty days. May not season and climate cause these changes? I think they may with great propriety be called the cotton blights, as the plant does not recover from their poisonous effects during the whole season, when they have been very numerous; yet, with good seasons, by which I mean neither too wet nor too dry, good crops have been made from plants, which were, to all appearances, dead on the 10th day of June. To this family of blights the same author assimilates the "hop-fly" of England, and