The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-23

seed from the lint,) and of the feast
ing and mcrrymaking sure to follow
the finishing of the allotted task.
With the splendid inventions fo1
facilitating the operations of spinning
and weaving in England. and the in
vcntion of the "saw gin by Eli Whit
ncy, at Savannah, Ga, in 1874 cottor
culture received an extraordinary i'm
petus. Spinning jcnnieS, mules an,
other new appliances were put il
operation in the United States sool
after they were started in England
and at the present day the great man
ufacturing establishments of the tlcecy
staple in the New England States
and the hourishing cotton mills ant
plantations of the South. constitut,
an industry which represents gigantic
domestic interests of vast commercial
Importance to foreign countries
An interesting comparison may be
drawn between the Southern States Of
to-day and of the South one hundred
years ago, as to it's status on the cot
ton question. Then it was with con.
siderable difficulty that the people OF
England could be convinced that the
eight small bags shipped from this
country to Liverpool lad been pro.
duced here. 1854 was the date Of
their unbelicf. To-day all estimates
as to the phenomenal crop which has
been gathered in the Southern States
in this year Of grace 1S9,l-5 point to
the enormous quantity of $500, ,00t
bales value, $3.50 0OO, 900.
1890 South. North
| AllllS..".....".......-23 10
Spindles.. ............... ,7l2,ooo 1885 ,OOC
Bales cotton consum-
ed.................. 55O,oOO l,7oo, ,ss(
1885, South. North
| .IliI 40
Spindles. .................3,O $4,000 l3,7oO,OOC
''"''' ed ed."~....~..". $4,000 2,1A,oot
In 1880 the South had onc-f fifteenth
the number of spindles in the United
States. In 1895 she possesses one
fifth of the number.
A large percentage of the staple
will 90 to Great Britain, for although
she has feeders in many other coun-
tries, she looks to the cotton States of
North America as the chief source of
supply for her large factories with
their many millions of busy spindles
and a short crop is not only felt as a
serious matter by the planters and
shippers, but may prove disastrous to
many communities of operatives de-
pendent on spinning for their daily
bread.
1t would be curiously interesting to
trace the history of cotton manufac.
turc in the Western Hemisphere, if
that were possible. Various conjcc
lures and speculations are cxtant, but
the only known facts are, that upon
it's discovery by Columbus, and the
subsequent visits of all the early voya-
gers, the natives of both continents,
North and South America, and the
adjacent islands, were found wearing
garments of cotton cloth. Humboldt
saw gossypium growing among the
Andes at an elevation of 5000 feet.
From Mexico Cortes sent back to
Spain magnificent fabrics of it, of
various styles of manufacture, striped
and figured in gorgeous colors, and
interviewer with the brilliant plumage
of tropical birds, the production of the
Aztecs.
In the Southern States the seed arc
sown in drills we'll separated from
each other, and the plants cultivated
with great care whereas, in India,
the seeds are, or were formerly, sown
broadcast, and the plants given as
little attention as possible by the
effcte and indolcnt natives. (Under
British stimulus, however, and the
competition of the world. they now
practice moro thrifty mcthods.) Yet,
Notwithstanding their slovenlincss of
tillage, and the fact that their spin
ming and weaving machines are of the
simplest and rudest construction, the
Hindoo stands unrivalled in the pro-
duction of the most delicate and cx-
quisitcly fine and lovely textures. In
no quarter of the globe have fabrics
been made that are comparable to the
famous muslins of Dacca, which
"might be thought the work of fairies
instead of men" In the striking
hyperbole of the Oriental. they are
webs of woven wind," and this seems
not so great an e1aggcration when We
read the testimony of the Rev. VIII
liam Ward, Baptist missionary to
India in 1889. He declared that four
months were required for the weaving
of one piece, and that when it was
spread on the grass and the dew fallen
upon it, it was no longer disccrnablc
Another authority tells us that the
rich lIindoos wear turbans of such
fine cloth that one containing twenty
FIVE or thirty ellis of it would not weigh
four ounces
They blcachcd their muslins by
wetting them with lemon water, and
spreading on the meadows.
There is variety of gosSypium
grown in China, the fibre of which is
a tan color, or a dusky yellow. 1t is
called nankccn, and is named from
Nam King, or Nankin. 1t has been
cultivated to some extent in this
country.
AS general rule, cotton is picked
from the wide OPEN ripcncd capsules
in the fields, the fbrcs holding the
seed in a close embrace. But in India
the Dhollera and Bhownugger cotton
natures in the closed pods. In the
proper time these are gathered and
exposed to the sun for few days
when they burst and the seed cotton
is picked out.
The tree cotton, to which division
the sea island belongs, attains height
of fifteen to twenty feet. \ consular
report from La Paz, Lower California
contains the following statement:
"Whcn this country was discovered
a cotton tree growing wild over tn,
entire land was found: if any attention
were given them, millions of pound.
of cotton might be gathered every
year. Marco Polo. the Venetian
merchant, who visited nearly all tn,
countries of Asia in the thirteenth