The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-25
HEAVY IMPORTS OF COTTON.
egyptians Competing strongly With
Sea Islands.


I -se nIanters of sea island cotton are
.rplaining as they have been for a long
- Of the failure of the govern
~snt TO protect them against the heavy
/ -ports Of Egyptian cotton which are
| sfrg made 10 this country. prominent
/ ION factor of this city. in speaking of
~ matter yesterday. said the failure of
5a government to put a duty on the i'm
80 of Egyptian cotton to this country
doing a great injury to American plan
..-s The imports Of Egyptian cotton to
~ New York market, have increased
realty during the last three years.
Adyices from Alexandria, Egypt. the
,-incipaI shipping port, state that already
acre had been shipped to New York this
..sson. I'D to Feb. 10, 4l,67S bales. Last
.ssson shipments were 2S.6Si bales, and the
sason before 7,407 bales.
II will at once be seen from these fig
rrss at what a rate the imports are in
.rsasing. The total shipments for this
YEAR will be at least $1,000 bales against
SEQ bales for last year.
When il is taken into consideration that
rrvptian cotton sells in the New York
market for liz cents against 1879 cents for
ga Islands. the factors say the want of
protective duty becomes apparent.
Fcvptian cotton has two points which
make it formidable competitor with sea
sland at an even price. 1t is under the
snpervision of the British government,
and is absolutely free from dirt. Col
Clarke of the o. N. t. thread mills said
that a bale Of Egyptian weighing 74O
hounds was sent through the machines,
\
shovel The waste on sea island is esti-
mated at 80 or 40 per cent. The second
point in favor of the Egyptian for certain
uses is the gloss which obtains on it after
manufacture and dyeing. Sea island cot
Ton is perfectly fat having no gloss what
Experiments have been made in this
country with the Egyptian seed, but it has
proved a failure, owing to the different
conditions which exist. Egyptian cotton
planters have a system of irrigation. In
this country the heavy rains spoil the
seed and the results are unfavorable
In a recent letter to a gentleman in this
city, Director r. j. Redding of the Geor-
gia experiment station at Griffin says;
The Egyptian species from which the
imported Egyptian cottons are produced,
prove worthless when planted in this sec
ton, producing a dirty white lint, and
very little of 1t. In fact, the product is
not equal either in quality or quantity to
the product of our own sea islands when
grown here from seed brought from the
coast" Mr.. Redding has been conducting
a series Of interesting experiments for
several years in the scientific hybridizing
and cross breeding of cotton, with the hope
of originating a new species with long
and fine staple, which would yield as
much per acre as the best varieties of or
binary uplands. The results of Mr. Red
dings experiments have been discourage
ing, as it has been demonstrated that the
longer and finer the staple, the less the
yield.
Prominent influences in the market for
sea island cotton are the large sleeves
worn by ladies, the cotton being used i'm
the stiffening materials and the interior
lining of pneumatic bicycle tires, prom
inent manufacturer of Massachusetts,
stating his belief that 10000 bales were
used for this latter purpose in this coun-
try alone last season.