The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-09-01

1 the loiu dudlrS QdQ taken, 50 1 teSOlSeS
to visit America. The only relative
have IN the world that know OF is Z
sort Of half cousin in the service of tn:
Bafiins Bay company, and am now or
way to that part Of the country in
search OF him. inherited little money
and, having no home ties. I have re-
solved to crafty my taste for travel.
Il noticed in travelling through this
country that your principal crop is cot
ton. Now. have carried that piece OF
cotton stalk for many months and it Ia;
travelled 5000 miles OF land and sea. SC
that doubt if the seed will terminate
| but want to give it TO some good fell
low VINO will experiment with it and see
II 1t can be naturalized in cotton
growing country where civilized methods
OF cultivation are understood"
THOMAS JACKSON GETS IT.
There is man living in this coun-
try who has devoted many iears to the
study Of the cotton plant" said one of
! the colonies who had heard the story,
land he can tell You in a few minutes
whether it can be grown in this climate
| or not"
Send for him and will make him a
present OF the cotton" said the traveller.
A note was despatched 10 Thomas
A. Jackson. who lives not far from the
city, and on the next day he called on
Kyle at his rooms in the Kimball.
Farmer Jackson is an East Tonnes
seean, was an aide-de-camp to con-
federate general in the war and left his
native land because Of the hostility Of
the Brownlee faction Immediately after
the war. He is a man of large expert
ence in cotton growing, and possesses a
liberal education and an inquiring turn
of mind. He had been studying the his
tory of the cotton plant for years and
as soon as he laid his eyes on the with
cred stalk that had been carried so many
miles he saw that it was of different
genus from the shrub cotton OF South
America, the latter being the variety
which is commonly cultivated as short
cotton all over the south.
He had long talk with Kyle, and
while the other colonies made light Of
the story told by the traveller Jackson
listened very attentively, and finally
his poor little farm among the reddest of
the red hills Of north Georgia. Care
fully he picked the seed from the silken
locks of cotton, observing that many OF
the pods or bolls contained five separate
cells instead OF four, which is the rule
with the ordinary cotton. Out of the
265 seeds fifty-seven terminated in the
garden plat where he planted them in
the spring Of 1895
MILLIONS IN THE NEW PLANT
The sturdy plants grew rapidly. put
ting forth first pair Of ordinary leaves,
and Immediately above them a second
leaf, which grew out from the stem
about two inches, then followed a joint
at which a cluster of squares" or buds
appeared, the leaf stalk continuing and
terminating in a broad thick leaf, while
the portion between the cluster OF buds
and the stalk thickened to the size of a
leda pencil, forming the support for the
heavy bolls or pods.
The plants grew to height Of twelve
TO fourteen feet. putting forth alternate
ly the general leaf and the fruit-bearing
leaf all the way to the top, and contin-
UNIV in full foliage until the frost fell.
except that the lower leaves dropped as
the bolls matured, so that by the time
the cotton was open and ready to pick
the leaves had disappeared. leaving only
the snowy bolls ready to be gathered
free from trash Or plant stains.
The new discovery became noised
abroad and the cotton men from long
distance came TO see it. Every seed was
carefully picked out by hand and in 1896
there were enough to plant half an acre,
less thirteen square feet, as measured by
a cotton expert from Baltimore. The land
composing his little farm is not at all
adapted 10 cotton culture and the farm
has been conducted as a grain-growing
and dairying establishment for years.
But from that half-acrZe he picked a
little over 1000 pounds Of seed cotton.
1t was not carefully ginned, but 1t yield
ed 500 pounds of the finest lint cotton
ever grown in Georgia, giving forty in
stead OF thirty-three and one-third
pounds Of lint to the 100 Of seed, the
latter being the average in common cot
ton.
CROP AL 10 ZEN Id "A fOOND
Experts said that it rivaled the finest |
Of Egyptian cotton and was superior in |
many respects TO the far-famed sea is
land product. A spool-cotton company !
sent an agent here and offered TO gin /
the cotton on the special machinery !
operated by the company, so as to give |
the fiber a thorough test, but Farmer |
Jackson declined the offer. saved the |
seed carefully. selling few at the enor-
nous price OF five cents apiece in pack
ages OF 100 seeds 70 some enthusiastic !
planters, who wished 10 give ii a trial.
He sold the lint for IS cents pound
when other cotton was selling at 3
and 5i5 cents a pound.
This year he has planted six acres and |
today he has the most magnificent field
DE- cotton ever seen in Georgia. On ac-
count OF the absence OF limbs IL can be
planted very closely, and the crop now
growing is on poor land with stiff clay
soil, ttirty-inch rows and the stalks six
inches apart. II stood a pr0tractei
brought of eight weeks. and the hard
,lods turned up by the plow in cultiva-
lion are still tumblei about the water
burrows. Blu: in spite OF all tha; the
stalks will average over six feet in
height and are heavily filed with boil
rom the ground up. A number % stalks
were measured and the bolls counted.
On one there were sixty fine bolls. OF
which forty-seven had five cells.
Three rows. selected at random IN dit-
erent parts OF the patch. Showed fifty
hree plants in the three sections OF ten
eet each, or an average Of eighteen 20
ne ten Zee, in distance. The bolls OF
ne Of thesa sac.inrs Has Carefully c-,tr-