The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-10-07
Is 1T "A MONSTER HUMBUG ?
The Limbless Cotton Is an Old Variety
Under New Name.

The newspapers have been filled for
several weeks with racy accounts Of o
wonderful cotton plant. which has been
recently introduced into & eorgia, and
the excitement 1t has produced over
there has extended all tho way to New
York. where syndicate IL to be or.
ganlZed Tor the purpose OF introducing
the seed throughout the entire cotton
belt. This remarkable cotton Is rep
resented as growing to the height of
twenty or thirty feet, and the yield is
anywhere from three to five bales per
acre. The lint is said to be exceedingly
fine, and compares favorably with the
product OF the sea islands, while it can
be used IN the manufacture of the finest
grades OF cotton goods. A romantic
story is told as to it's origin, which
gives an added interest to the wonder
Iul discovery or new variety of cotton.
More than year ago there came a
wandering Jew, who had beeu with an
exploring party into the dark interior
of Africa, and in wandering through
the intricacies of our sister State. he
came across Mr.. II. A. jackson, who
lives not fur from Atlanta, and the
story goes that the Jew took O. great
fancy 10 Jackson, 80 that he "gave
him a section of q giant cotton stalk
with five Aols on it, CONTAINING a
dou bile. handful OF cotton seed, and bold
nm TO plant them upon his farm, when
nc would see what would come of
them" He explained to jackson the
circumstances under which he had
iound this cotton, and said that the ex-
Plorlng party OF which he was a mem
Der mad come upon a patch OF it in the
wllds OF the Soudan, where it grew to
s ene helght OF thirty feet and yielded
This improbable story has been ac-
cepted by the newspapers, ard the
lucky rccipie OF of the Jews favoritism
planted The seed and awaited the result
Win Interest. In q fertile soil the
promises of the Jew were fulfilled, and
ON barren hills the cotton stalks
reached ten feet in hoig ht and Welded
two bales to the acre. Mr.. Jackson
dld not hide his light under a bushel
ol cotton seed, but made known his
great success in growing this wonder.
ful plant. and offered to sell o limited
quantity OF seed at good, stiff price.
llls reported success alarmed the farm
crs OF Georgia, who foresaw that an
over production Of couton would g,ut
the market and reduce tho price so
that their lands would be valucless and
their chief staple brought to the verge
of ruin. Influential planters held Il
conference, it is said, aud raised a
large fund with which to buy all the
seed in Jackson's possession with
the purpose Of destroying it. But
jackson refused to sell, and the New
York syndicate was organized to hand le
tho seed and grow cotton world with
out end" We can imagine the con-
sternaton Of the Georgia farmers
when they failed to get control OF the
seed, and doubtless many of them,
fearing that Oohello's occupation was
gone, began to consider the opportun-
tiles afforded by emigration to the
Klondikc.
Fortunately, there is an experiment
station in Georgia, although the daily
newspapers In Atlanta do not seem to
| be aware Of it. MIR. John Ferguson,
| ST., OF this city, whose interest in
| farming has never waned, had pro-
! cured some Of the wonderful African
! cotton seed from MIR. Jack son at very
| high price, as already told in our col
umns, but he was not satisfied with The
glowing accounts about the limbless
| cotton, and concluded to inquire at
the Georgia experiment station to
find out what they knew about it.
The result OF his inquiry Is as fol-
lows:
GEORGIA EXPERIMENT STATION,
Septcm Der 20, 1891.
Mr. John Ferguson, Greenville, S. G.
Dear Sir:-in reply to yours OF the
23d, beg to say that have repeatedly
gard to the SO. called African Llmbless
Cotton. have the same cotton grow
ing on this Station from some Of the
same seed that jackson used, having
secured it from a partner Of Jackson I
! last year. | have also examined Jack
sous six-acre field of the 90 called
| African Cotton. When the patch
| plant, d on this Station commenced de-
| vcloping fruit | soon suspected that it
was none other than a comparative y
old variety, known as "Weloorn Pet, y
Introduced and sold principally in the
| Vest for ! or. . years past by jeff
! Welborn. now Of Kerra, Ark. After it
! commenced 10 open ito crop beca me
! convinced beyond reasunab.c douo
| that the Africeu t., cotton i. Identical
| with 'yTe!born'a Pet ! had gronn
! the "pct' 10 l-!yJ and 81, and renem-
| oercG i,s pecu!!af!t!cs. | exchanged
! specimen sections of ..a.E. nIsn Mr..
! jeff W {! born a len UesEa ego, ne ssnI.
! ing me section ct d s,a,E u ma ret
| grown last year. The res .t "as snas
! no doubt wnatEvcr IL left IN hIs nf m1
! mind Of the id entity q! JaEE.nn's "hfj-
I
test of 81 varieties dOes not shOH mDCh
to the credit of the jackson cUttnn. II
will not yield as much as any one 81
half the other varieties.
| saw Jackson's patch. It's growing
on land that Crig inally vas thin upland,
but it has been manured and improved
for many wears until it Is now what we
understand when we say "dunghiil
spot: besides this previous manuring
it bas been loaded down with cOwpen
manure from the adjoining cowpen OF
sixty cows. 1t will possibly make | to
II bales o. cotton per acre, II the frost
holds off reasonably late. The staple
is ordinary, no better than the average
selected varieties OF upland cotton and
will bring no more in the market.
The whole thing is simply scheme
to sell the seeds Of fairly good varic-
ty of cotton at an unconscionably ex.
orbitant price. Wclborn sells them