Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1855-07-19
Cotton in the Climate of the t7.ai-
ted sStates


Climate Of a very large portion of the
United States, embracing all south of the
:5th parallel in the Atlantic States, of the
37th in those bordering the Mississippi,
and to the Rio Grande, is singularly we'll
adapted to the most extensive field cult
vation of this indispensable staple. There
is no area of similar extent which COM
bines all the requisite conditions of clima-
te; and the magnitude ofthe interests de-
pending, and to depend for an indefinite
period upon it, should induce great care
that this cultivation is not permitted to ex-
haust its capacities in any manner
Those of climate are constant, and cannot
SO far as we are enabled to compare cli-
mates of either hemisphere, be reprodu-
ced, and may not be found repeated.
The special comparisons of temperature
which illustrate this position may be found
in the table given in connexion with the
sugar. cane, and in the tropical selections
from climates ofthe Eastern continent
The summer temperatures are all equal to
those of tropical districts. and are. proba-
bly,, so far, of less importance than the
amount of rain. To compare in this res
pect, we have but to refer TO the amount
given for localities in the cotton region of
the United States, and to the known rnle
of distribution in tropical countries gener-
ally. In these the rainy season is almost
always in summer; and where this season
attains its maximum of humidity, as in the
tierras calienies of Mexico, the animal
plant is not cultivated. In nothern Mexi-
CO, were the elevation is such as to render
the rainy season little more than the ac-
tual summer rains of the United States, a
growth Of cotton exists similar to ours,
though the area permitting this is extreme
ly limited.
The Table connected with the climate
range of the sugar-cane exhibits some
of the more striking contrasts in distribu-
ton of rain affecting this staple.
The positions briefly indicated in the
foregoing remarks may be further iliustra-
ted by sketch of the varied range of the
several species Of cotton at difierant Pc
RODS, and from the earlier dates of its cul-
tiyation. 1t is difficult to do more than
give general sketch, however, as the pre-
else facts are not easily attained. Its re-
lations to climatology are all we can de-
termine, or would undertake here, and So
netting may, perhaps, be done in this d.
rectiOn. ---------=i
Some degree Of cultivation and use OF
cotton has existed from time immenlarial
yet the general character of this use in the
arts was much more peculiarly local than
that Of any other class Of manufactures
1t entered very little, if at all, into CONNER
ce; and there are scarcely any historical
evidence Of commercial use of cotton un-
til the activity of England began to gather
raw material for fabrics of every sort
in the seventeenth century. Some local
or limited commerce in raw cotton undoubt-
edly existed, for some centuries previous,
between small States in the south OF
Europe and Asia; but it had no general
Importance. Fabrics, generally, Of silk
and wool and the raw material for these,
were the subject Of extensive commerce
many centuries earlier; and the point to
be observed is, that with all this activity in
the commerc& of fabrics and raw mate
rial, scarcely anything was done in cotton
until more favorable climate permitted
the great expansion which has taken place
in thisproduction in the United States.
/ Under the stimulus of the new demand
arising in English manufactures, there
seems also to have been no increase of
production in the original cotton growing
regions. The best tables of the amount
produced at different dates, whether en-
tering directly into commerce or reported
as the entire amount produced; give de-
creasing rather than increasing amounts
for all these older countries. The restric-
tion cannot, therefore, have been in the
inactivity Of. commerce nor of manutac-
lures, and it is very clear that it shonld be
referred to those of cultivation merely-to
the inadequate climate and soil for the pro-
duction Of raw cotton beyond the local de-
mand. Il t.s. ss zs 9
That this Limitation was mainly in eli
mate, is still more evident by reference to
the particular districts. In India, the To-
calities of its greatest success are so pure
ly tropical as to be adapted to the peren-
nial species almost exclusively. The spe-
cifc characters are but imperfectly deter
mined, but it appears that the herbaceous
species Of temperate climates are nearly
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