Wichita eagle., 1888-04-13


the Western CONFERENCE.-THE First Sea
Island Cotton.
The cotton plant is a child Of the sun. 1t
natural habitation is in the tropical regions Of
ASIA, Africa and america, but it has beer
accilmated and successfully cultivated as ia!
north as the thirty-sixth degree of north lati
tude. Its cultivation covers q very large por
ton OF our globe. In the eastern hemisphere
the range of its cultivation extends from
southern Europe on the north to the Cape Of
Goo1 Hope on the south; III the western
hemisphere from Virginia 20 southern Brazil
1t has been most successfully cultivated, how
ever, between the thirtieth and t;liIty-fiftl
degrees north latitude. Humboldt found il
growing in the Andes at an elevation OF 9,O0t
feet, and IN Mexico at $500 feet BOYLE re-
ports 1t cultivated at an elevation Of OCT
feet III the Himalaya. Such elevations. how.
ever, are not favorable to its best develop
Inent. Botanically, cotton belongs to tie
natural order nlalvace2, genus gossypiurn
botanists differ as to its proper classification
INTO species; some enumerating as many a;
ten species, others seven, and others only
three, as necessary to o clear discrimination
between the distinctive characteristics recog
nlzable, after making due allowance for differ
ences resulting from soil and climatic in.
fuences
ANCIENT COTTON GROWING COUNTRY.
The history of the cotton plant antedate:
N It's beginnings the commercial annals Of
the human family. India seems to have been
the most ancient cotton growing country.
For i've centuries before the Christian era
her inhabitants were clothed in cotton goods
OF domestic manufacture from the fiber
grown upon her own soil by her own crude
methods
notwithstanding the proximity of China to
India, 1t was not until the Eleventh century
that the cotton plant became an object of
common culture III China The first mention,
made of cotton in the records was 200 years
before the Christian era From that time
down to the Seventh century it is mentioned
not as an object OF industry, but one of inter.
est and curiosity; an occupant of the flower
garden, the beauty of its flowers being cele-
DRAFTED IN poetry. In the Eleventh century
held culture of cotton commenced in China.
put OWING to the opposition of the people. es.
peclally those engaged in growing and manu-
1actarInG wool and fax, it was not until 1868
that the cultivation and manufacture of cot
ton were well established
Central and South America and the West
Indies grew and manufactured cotton long
before their discovery by Columbus, who
found the plant under cultivation, and the
people using fabrics made from the staple.
At the conquest of Mexico by Cortes. in 1870
ne found that the clothing of the Mexicans
consisted principally of cotton goods; the M
VOC nf I.
garments and cloths for coverings for his
nuts, while Montezuma presented him with
curtains, coverletS and robes of cotton fine
as silk, of rich and various dyes. interviewer
with feather work, that rivaled the deUcacy
of painting"
FLAX INSTEAD OF COTTON
VI seems not to have either cultivated
g. III OF used It's fabrics at very early date.
Slice Tie cloths in which the mumInies were
enveloped were of flax instead OF cotton. In
deed, It appears that those nations which were
eafIy celebrated for their manufacture Of fine
Hneh were slow to substitute the cotton for
the flax
Spain was first of the European states to
grow cotton. 1t was introduced here bv the
MoOrs in the Tenth century. The first cotton
'''' t'i'ti-NSN III tuc CitlIcu IOldbeS III IOSi.
Carols Historical Collections of South
Carolina" mentions the growth of the cot
ton plant in that province in 1866 In 1876
1t was planted in gardens in Talbot county.
Nd, latitude 80 north. At the commence
ment of the revolutionary war Gen. Dclagall
was said 10 have had thirty acres planted in
cotton near Savannah, Ca. Is is stated that
in l14S, among the exports of Charleston. S.
C., We're seven bags Of cotton wool. valued at
e3 lis. Sd. bag. Another small shipment
was made in 1914, and in 1710 three more,
amounting to ten bales. in 1854 eight bales
shipped to England were seized on the ground
that SO much cotton could not be produced in
the United States.
The first Sea Island cotton was grown on
the coast Of Georgia in 11S6, and its exDorta-
ton commenced i'll 1.6S, by Alexander Bis
sci, of st. Simons Island In 1901 the
cotton cropOf the United States was 1000. 900
pounds, Of which three-fourths was grown in
South Carolina and one-fourth in Georgia.
Ten years later, 1901, IS 900, 900 pounds were
produced-20,G 100000 pounds of which was
exported. j. s. Newman in Ameri-
can Agriculturist.