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Petit Gulf cotton

Cultivar of Mexican origin

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1265663955 · 2024-12-28T01:40:00Z
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cotton8 uses in this article Petit6 uses in this article Mississippi3 uses in this article cultivar2 uses in this article planter2 uses in this article Rodney2 uses in this article about2 uses in this article grown2 uses in this article other2 uses in this article River2 uses in this article productivity1 uses in this article alternative1 uses in this article cultivation1 uses in this article disappeared1 uses in this article practically1 uses in this article resourceful1 uses in this article agronomist1 uses in this article derivative1 uses in this article impossible1 uses in this article Plantation1 uses in this article

Overview

Petit Gulf cotton was a cotton hybrid patented by planter Rush Nutt at his Laurel Hill Plantation in Rodney, Mississippi, in 1833. It was named "Petit Gulf" for the bend of the Mississippi River where it was grown. It proved more resistant than the green seed cotton from Georgia as long as planters followed the breeding process used in Rodney. Petit Gulf was said to be less likely to harbor diseases and rot than other breeds of cotton. Moreover, it was easier to pick with a human hand, thus leading to greater productivity. The version that appeared in a Natchez newspaper in 1871 said the seeds came from a visiting trader: According to one local historian, there are two legends about how Nutt acquired the seed: "The first is that he got the seed in Egypt while on a world cruise. The other is that he found it in Mexico and offered to buy some.

Told that the country did not allow the export of cotton seed, he was offered an alternative by the resourceful Mexican. He told him that dolls could be exported—so Nutt bought a whole batch of dolls, all stuffed with cotton seed." A third account credits Walter Burling for the doll-seed smuggling. In 1891 the Petit Gulf cultivar was described as, "Stalk large and straggling. Wood limbs long and abundant near the bottom. Fruit limbs long, long jointed and drooping. Bolls medium and pointed. Staple long. Not prolific. Late." By 1907, an agronomist reported that "...for many years pure seed has been impossible to obtain and the variety has practically disappeared from cultivation, the cotton still grown and reported under this name being a mixture of various types. Petit Gulf was developed about 1840 by Col. H. W.

Vick, of Mississippi, and by 1846 it had become very popular." The Hunt strain may have been derivative of Petit Gulf. Rush Nutt's son Haller Nuttalso a wealthy slave owner, planter and agronomistdeveloped and marketed a cotton cultivar known as Egypto-Mexican beginning in 1841.

In popular culture

An eponymous song appears on Justin Townes Earle's 2010 album Harlem River Blues.

Science & nature

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