The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-15
! nIaut Of Australia.

| Iaplta'.d u Spec!U;"H 20 I'F p p"r lltllS
farm among the redd2st cf the red
hills OF Georgia. Carefully b" picked
the leaves from the s'iEnn lacks Of
cotton, Observing tina: mary of the
GODS or bolls contained five cells each
instead of four, which is the rule with
the ordinary cotton. Out OF the 265
seed secured fifty. seven gcrminated in
the garden plot whore he planted them
in the spring Of 1895.
The sturdy plaGts grew rapidly,
esch putting forth, at first, an ordiua
ry pair OF leaves, and Immediately
above them s. second leaf, which grew
out from the stem about two ir ches.
Then followed q joint. at which a
cluster of squares" or buds appeer:d,
The leaf stalk continuing and terminal
ing in q brosd, thick leaf, while the
portion between the cluster Of buds
ar d the stalk thickeued tc tbs siZe OF
lead pencil, forming a support for
the heavy boIls. TIE plants grew to
a heisht 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
ION was open snd ready to pick the
leaves had disappeared, leaving on "
the snowy balls ready to be gathered,
free from trash or plant stains
The discovery became noised abroad
and cotton men from g 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 z Jack
sons little farm is not at all adapted
to cotton culture, and the farm had
been conducted as q grain growing
and dairy establishments for years.
But from that half acre Jackson pick
ed little over 1000 pounds OF seed
cotton. It was not carefully ginned
but it yielded 900 pounds of the finest
lint cotton ever grown in Georgia.
giving 40 instead of the usual 50 1-3
pounds of lint to the 100 OF seed.
Experts said that it rivalled the
finest of Egyptian cotton, and was su-
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 cotton
on the special machinery operated by
the company, so as to give the fibre 8
thorough test. but Farmer Jackson
declined the offer, and saved the seed
carefully, selling a few at the enor-
nous price of scents apiece in pack
ages of one hundred 10 some enthusi
astic planters who wished to give the
seed a fair trial. he sold the lint for
IS cents pound when other cotton
was selling at 5 and 1-2 CENTS a
pound. This year he planted six
acres, and he has to day the most mag
nj6cent field of cotton ever seen in
Georgia. On account of the absence
of limbs the cotton can be planted
very closely, and the crop now grow
ine is on poor land, with a stiff clay
soil, thirty-iuch rows aad the stalks
thirty inches apart. 1t stood pro
tracted drought of eight weeks, and
TIE hard clods turned up by the plough
in cultivation are still tum5 5led about
the water burrows. But in spite OF
oil that the stalks will average about
six feet in height, and are heavily
fruited from the ground up. On one
were sixty fine bolls, OF which forty
seven had five calls each.
Three rows selected at random IN
different parts OF the patch showed
fifty three plants in the three sections
of ten feet each on an average OF
eighteen to the ten feet in distance.
The fruit on one of these sections
showed that there are nearly four and
a half bales of cotton to the acre now
on the ground. and the crop is not
nesrly made, it is still growing Wig.
orously. The best stalk in Fl i'd OF
common cotton. growing nearby, was
plucked up by the roots and set in a
row with the mid. African exotic. Tie
comparison was ridiculous, AID the
disparity in the appearance OF the two
plants was enough to dishearten the
most invetsrAte mortgage broker IL
Georgia.
The cotton is creating a great seDsa-
ton, and planters and mill men are
coming from miles around to view the
wonderful field of cotton that has the
appearance of a bit of jungle trans
planted from some tropical cline to
its present location among the red
hills of Georgia. It is probable that
the Lowell mills in New England will
purchase the entire crop and give it a
thorough test in the manufacture Of
the finer grades Of goods for which il
seems pre- eminently adopted.
Farmer Jackson planted with the
expectation of gathering eighteen
bales, and his neighbors laughed at
him. 1t now looks as if he were good
for twenty-four bales, aud ii the pres
ent crop at harvest time fulfills half
the promise of the growing plants and
turns out half what its admirers hope
for, this legacy of the wandering Jew
will revolutiopizs cotton growing IN
the South.
Adolph Kyle left here with the ex
pressed intention of visiting Ratfin's
Bay and Alaska. He has not been
heard of for more than q year, al
though during bis stay here he made
the acquaintance OF many influential
citizens, to whom he promised to
write.
Farmer Jackson is not saying much
L L