The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-09-08
in the primeval wilds, it would make
the fortune of the man who introduced

II cut OFT o section OF the plant that
had more than six hundred pods on it
by actual count, and was more than
twenty feet in height. The section
was about eighteen inches long, and
had sixty-fve pods open on it, and l
carried it away among my lug
gage as a curiosity. At first [ care
fully wrapped it in a piece Of antelope
skin and packed it among other SOU
venirs of our wanderings. We were
then on the return journey to the
| coast, and on the way up we were up
set in a turbulent stream by the over
turning of a raft, and all our belong
ings were thoroughly saturated.
"In drying my cotton stalk [ smok-
ed ;s slightly, but [ preserved it in a
piece Of dressed shark skin to protect
it from the salt water and air IN the
voyage to the Cape. Arriving there
| I did not like the turn affairs had ia
ken, so I resolved to visit America.
The only relative in the world that [
know of is in the service Of the
Bafin's Bay Company, and [ am now
on my way to that part the country in
; search Of him. I inherited a little
money, and having no home ties I
have resolved to crafty my taste for
travel.
81 noticed in travelling through
this country that your principal crop
is cotton. Now l have carried that
piece of cotton for many months, and
it has travelled 5000 miles Of land
and sea, so that I doubt if the seed
will terminate; but I want to give it
to some good fellow, who will expert
ment with it and see if it can be natu-
rallied in a cotton growing country,
where civilized methods Of cultivation
are understood
"There is a man livingin this coun-
try who has devoted many years to
the, study of the cotton plant said
one of the colonies, who had heard
the story, ''and he can tell you in a
few minutes whether it can be grown
| in this country or not"
"Sendf for hi and Twill make him a
present of the cotton" said the tray
eler.
A note was dispatched to old Thorn
as A. jackson, who lives not far from
the city, and on the next day he call
ed on Kyle at his, rooms in the Kim
ball. Farmer Jackson is an East
Tennesseean, was an a%id-de-camp to
a Confederate general in the war, and
left his native land because OF the
| hostility of the Brownlow faction inl-
mediately after the war. He is man
of large experience in cotton growing
and has a liberal education and an en-
quiring turn of mind. He has been
studying the history Of the cotton.
plant for years, and as soon as he laid
eyes on the withered stalk that had
been carried so many miles he sa1w
that it was Of a different genus from
the shrub cotton of South America or
the annual plant Of Australia.
He had a long talk with Kyle and,
while the other colonels made light OF
the story, Jackson listened very at
tentively and finally carried off the d.
lapidated specimen to his poor little
farm among the reddest of the red
hills Of Georgia. Carefully he picked
the leaves from the silken locks OF
cotton, observing that many of the
pods or bolls contained five cells each
instead of four, which is the rule with
| the ordinary cotton. Out of the 265
seed secured ffty-seven terminated in
the garden plot where he planted them
in the spring Of 1895.
The sturdy plants grew rapidly,
each putting forth, at first an ordina-
ry pair Of 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 '~ssquares" or buds appeared,
the leaf stalk continuing and termina-
ting in a broad, thick leaf, while the
portion between the cluster Of buds
and the stalk thickened to the size Of
a lead pencil, forming 81 support for
the heavy bolls. The plants grew to
a height Of twelve to fourteen feet,
putting forth alternately the general
leaf and the fruit bearing leaf, all the
way to the top, and continuing in full
foliage till the frost fell, except that
the lower leaves dropped as the bolls
matured, so that by the time the cot
ton was open and ready to pick the
leaves had disappeared, leaving only
the snowy balls ready to be gathered,
free from trash or plant stains.
The discovery became noised abroad
and cotton men from a long distance
came to see it. Every seed was care
fully 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 jack
sons little farm is not at all adapted
to cotton culture, and the farm had
been conducted as a grain growing
and dairy establishment for years.
But from that half acre Jackson pick
ed a little over 1000 pounds Of seed
cotton. 1t was not carefully ginned
but it yielded 800 pounds Of the finest
lint cotton ever grown in Georgia,
giving 40 instead of the usual 80 l-3
pounds of lint to the 100 of seed.
Experts said that it rivalled the
finest of Egyptian cotton, and was SUI
perior in many respects to the far
famed sea Island product. The Clark
Spool Cotton Company sent an agent
here and offered to gin the cot
ton on the special machinery oper-
ated by the company, SO as to give
the fibre a thorough test, but Farmer
jackson declined the offer. and saved
the seed carefully, selling a few at ting
enormous price of 5 cents apiece in
packages Of one hundred to some en-
thusiastic planters who wished to give
the seed a fair trial. Hesold the lint
for Is cents a pound when other cot
ton was selling at 5 and S 1-2 cents a
Wound Thio vnor hn nlontnd siy