The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-23
TIE STORY OF KING COTTON
Hjndoos Made Cloth from Cotton In Hero
dotus' Time.

dotuS' Time.
Following is the full text of Mrs.
Elizabeth l.. II. Willis interesting
and valuable address at Atlanta on
liking Cotton, the Monarch of the
South.
Mrs. Willis said The earliest his
tory of this great commercial potcn-
tate is veiled in obscurity, notwith-
standing his broad natal domnions
being found indigenous to tropic and
scmi-tropic Asia, Africa, America and
the isles of the sea lying within the
cotton belt. which extends to the 10th
parallel around the globe on both sides
of the equator.
Gossypium is this vegctal ruler S
patronymic, a genus belonging to a
natural order which includes the
familiar favoritcs of the old-timc gar.
dcns. hollyhock, mellow, abutilon and
hibiscus, nor must that valuable escu
lent, okra, be omitted from from the
list.
Although Dc Candollc describes
thirteen species, Linnaeus recognized
but five, viz: Gossyplum arboreum,
or tree cotton; G. herbaccum, hcrba-
ccous cotton; G. hirsutum, the hairy
stcmmed American cotton; 6: Barba.
dense, and G.. rcligiosum. Each of
these species has several sub varieties,
thought to be notifications resulting
entirely from cultivation.
The most valuable to the world of
trade and the most widely cultivated
is the herbaccous, grcen-sccded,
short staple annual. 1t is grown cx-
tensivcly in the Southern States. in
India, China, Africa, Australia, Cen
trail and South America. The silky,
long staple sea island is the tree cot
ton. 1t has black seeds and the fibre
is distinguished for it's length,
strength, sickness and creamy tinge.
1t produces the finest quality of fleece
of all other species, but is only grown
to advantage on the sea coast in warm
climates. under the influence of salt
air. 1t has been brought to the great
est perfection on the seaboard of South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Although cotton, growing wild in
great abundance. was found upon
the discovery by Columbus Of the New
World, in the West Indies and the
continents, and it's produce made use
of by the natives for clothing and bed
ding, and Notwithstanding it was
known also to grow luxuriantly in
Africa, it seems to be universally con-
ccded that Hindostan was its first
great industrial and commercial en-
pire. Here, from a period of remote
antiquity, it fourished as the most
useful and general industry of agricul-
ture-next in Importance to food
crops. And from this country in the
course of centuries its culture and
manufacture gradually increased and
advanced eastward across China to
Japan and eastward to Persia, Mcso-
potamia, and the countries bordering
on the Mediterranean; to Western
Africa by way of the Senegal River,
and finally to Spain through the mouth
of the Tagus.
Among the ancicnts cotton was
designated "wool of trees by Ger
mans "trcc WOOL" while in this coun-
try it is termed ''cotton wool. SCOT
ton lint and referred to somewhat
POLITICALLY as the 'Aeecy staple.
Ilcrodotus mentions among the Won
ders of IIindostan a plant which. in
stead of bearing fruit in the ordinary
sense. produced fleece that was finer
and more beautiful than that of sheep,
and that of this substance the Hin
docs made their clothes. Hcrodotus
made his observations about $50 B. c.,
and it is quite reasonable to suppose
that cotton manufacture was common
in that country for centuries before
his day. That it had long existed
previous to the age of authentic his
tory the ancient Greek leaves no room
to doubt, since he made no mention of
this vegetable wool in any other coun.
try. Neither is there found trace of
the cotton plant in any of the records
of the Hebrews, Egyptians. Assyrians
or other nations of antiquity, either
in hicroglyph or pictorially represent
ed. Paintings portraying the gather
ing and preparation of fax are found
on the walls of sepulchres in upper
Egypt, and frequent allusion in Exc
dus is made to ''fnc linen in Moses
description of the construction and
adornmcnt of the tabernacle, and
wool, the fleece of sheep, is often re-
fcrrcd to in the sacred Book.
The wrapping cloths of the mum
mics of Egypt, when divested of the
rcsinous cmbalming substance, fraycd
out at the edge and examined under
the microscope, clearly prove to have
been made of linen-thc national man
ufacturc of the land of the Pharaohs.
Flax was the chief, if not the only,
textile fibre of the ancient Egyptians;
wool, of most of the Asiatics, the
sheep being native to all the elevated
platcaus and mountainous regions Of
the Continent; the silk worm was a
gift peculiar to China, while cotton
was the bountcous treasure bestowed
on India America.
The old Greek rcographcr, Strabo,
(who died a. d. 25,) made note of the
lowered cottons and chintzcs of the
Indians, and of the beautiful dyes and
patterns in which they were figured.
lie also stated that in his own time
cotton was domestic and commercial
commodity in certain parts of Persia.
Fifty years later Pliny wrote that ''In
upper Egypt towards Arabia there
grows shrub called Nylon, from
which the stutFs are made which we
call Nylina. 1t is small shrub and
bears a fruit within a downy wool,
which is spun into thread. There is
nothing preferable to these stuffs
for softncss or whitcncss. Beautiful
garments are made Of them for the
priests of Egypt. .
But the testimony of all the ancient
historians and travellers, from Her
odotus, Ncarchus, Strabo, Aerion and
early succeeding writer's, goes to prove
that East India was the birth place of
.Lo .o,ton Industry No knoWle1rc