Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-09-10
A New Species of Cotton.
der of the Southern PIanters--BrOught
from Africa by a Wandering Jew.

MemmOtn flants Nhich are the won
der of the Southern PIanters--B Brought
from Africa by a wandering Jew.
When the late Barney Barnato the South Afri.
can diamond king. was investing in the clay pits
at Kimberly and laying the foundation Of his
fabulous fortunes another adventurer Of the same
resourcefu race was making his toilsome way
through the miasmatic swamps of the Upper
Congo on the road to the discovery that may be
Of more importance to the commercial world
than all the gems from all the mines in the dark
continent.
One day in the autumn of 1894 Adolph Kyle an
English jew, bronzed and bearded from the eff.
fects of the tropical sun and a long sea vol age
registered at the Kmball House at Atlanta. Ga
and was surrounded by q crowd of curious
colonies to whom he related scraps of his adven-
lures among the iungles OF Central Africa and
RECALLED with stories Of the wondrous vegetable
productions of that region OF eternal summer.
His stories were remarkably interesting and from
them il was learned that IN the latter part of 1892
he joined party of prospectors on "A tour of eX-
ploratiun to the country OF the Congo. few
months later their tent was pitched on the out.
skirts of an African village 20 miles south of the
equator and 1000 miles from the sea
Growing near the camp was a thicket OF mann
moth cotton plants 20 feet and over in height ap.
pearing more like young trees than herbiverous
| plants, and covered from top to bottom with
snowy pods and blossoms. From stalk bearing
GOO pods he cut off one section Is inches long
and bearing 6j pods, and by wrapping it carefully
| with him without damage to America. Being in
| doubt as to whether the seed would terminate In
this country one Of the colonies called in Thos A.
| jackson, a farmer who rad had great experience
in cotton growing, and to HIM was given the spec
| linen with which to experiment. Carefully he
| picked the seed from the silken locks Of cotton,
| observing that many of the pods or bolls CON
tanned five separate cells instead of four which is
| the rule with ordinary cotton. Out Of the PCS
seed secured, 81 terminated In the garden plat
where he planted them in the spring OF 1895.
The plants grew to height OF ~ to IL feet, at
| tracing cotton growers from long distances.
| Every seed was picked out by hand and 10 1895
| there were enough to plant half an acre. Ex-
perts said that il rivaled the finest of Egyptian
| cotton and was superior in many respects to the
| far famed Sea island cotton.
| MIR. jackson jealousy guarded every seed, sell
| ing few at the enormous price OF five cents
apiece in pac kages OF 100 seeds to some enthus.
| astic planters who wished to give II a trial. He
sold the lint for 10 cents pound when other cot
ton selling at five and five and one half cents
| pound. This year he planted six acres, and he
has today the most magnificent field of cotton
ever seen in Georgia. 1t Is probable that the
| Lowell mills in New England will buy the entire
| crop and give 1t a thorough test In the manufac
ture of the finer grades Of goods for which it
| seems peculiarly adapted. Farmer jackson
planted with the expectation Of gathering is
bales, and his neighbors laughed at him. 1t looks
as If he is of % bales and If the present crop
at harvest time fulhlls half the promise of the
| growing plants, this legacy of a wandering Jew
| will revoutioniZe the growing OF cotton, which Is
the greatest money crop in the world, bringing
| 10 its producers $50, OOO. GEO annually.
| oOult luea OF lnls lTOlUC COltOu may DE mas
from the fact that 10 bolls the stalk is consid-
cred a fair crop on Georgia upands, and will
| yield 1000 pounds OF seed cotton to the acre,
| generally two and half to three acres be-
ing required to produce 800 pound bale. This
cotton, on the other hand, promises to yield from
three to four bales to the acre with careful cult
| walton, and a very simple calculation will show
the difference between planting 22OO 600 acres to
| secure a 100000 bale crop, and the planting OF
1000 900 acres to secure the same result. one of
the stalks grown in 1895 was IA l.2 feet high, and
bore 1856 bolls
The appearance Of the new plant Is essentially
| different from any other variety of cotton known
| In this country. Ii has no limbs, the stalk is
stout and straight and supported 10y tough,
| fbrous bark: the blooms open at night, and are
| cylindrical instead Of harng, so that they do not
admit the rain which causes the dropping of the
frutage during wet spells the leaves drop out OF
the way as the bolls ripeu the fiber of the lint
presents under the microscope the smoothness OF
bits of polished steel the seed small Of a
dark brown color, and with a spot in the side like
the eye of bean. and the locks hang loosely in
the wide open bolls so that II il easily harvested
Kyle, IL alive, Is searching in the klon.
dixie for his only known relative in the world.