The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1908-07-24
Sea Island Cotton.

The following report on Sea Is
land Cotton. taken from Bulletin
No. 95 of the Census Bureau, 1907,
viii be read with interest, showing
the history of that important but
small feature of the cotton indus
try:
The island crop Of 1907, con-
sisting of SO, 895 bales, or 81 ,030,
736 pounds, exceeds that of 1906
by %. 345 bales, or 52.7 per cent,
but is 444 bales less than the aver
age crop of the last five years. Of
the sea-island crop of 1907, SO.
per cent was ginned to Decem Der 1
and 84.5 to January l. The heav-
lest ginning period for this cotton
was in November. when 1868
bales, or 25.3 per cent of the crop,
were handled. The proportion
of the upland production in that
month was 20.4 per cent.
The cultivation of sea-island cot
ton in the United States at the
present time, as shown by returns
o ginners, is confined to Is coun-
es in Florida, % in Georgia, and
Al in South Carolina, or a total of
49 counties. 1t is not grown, how
ever, throughout the counties from
which 1t is returned. The acreage
given to this culture in 1899 was
81, AS, distributed as follows:
Georgia, 40. .756; Florida, 122, 1877;
and South Carolina, 23,9O2. Ex-
periments have been made in many
other parts of these states and in
other states to grow this cotton, but
so unsatisfactory have been the re-
suits that all efforts to grow it out
side of certain well-defned areas in
the states named have been aban-
doned. Farmers who grow sea-is-
land cotton in the interior secure
new seed frequently from the coast
regions in order to preserve its iden-
tity, as the fiber degenerates rapid
! ly into that of upland cotton. Tex
as affords an illustration of the i'm
practicability of growing this staple
IL this country elsewhere than as
indicated. In 1878 sea island cot
ton was introduced into that state,
202 bales of fairly good staple be
ng produced. Annually thereafter.
some 20 bales We're grown until
8S4, VIII en- the production
dropped to II bales. and then ceas-
ed until 1895, when, through the
efforts of interested parties in Sa-
vannah, sea-island seed was again
planted. As a result Of this re-
newed effort. 991 bales were report
ed in 1885, 2,597 bales in 1896; 10
bales in 1897; and 6 bales in 1899,
which was the last year any was re-
ported.
1t might be inferred from its bo-
tanical name C. Barbadense) that
sea-island cotton is a native of the
Barbados, but it is said that the
| seed of this cotton originated in
Persia, being derived from Gossyp-
ium Arboreum of India and reach
ed the Barbados from Persia. 1t
was carried in 1885 from the island
of Anguilla to the Bahama Islands,
and thence introduced into the
United States in 1856, being first
grown on St. Simons Island. now a
. part of Glynn county, Georgia. To
!, Kinsey Burden and wife of Cole
ton county, South Carolina. is due
the credit for its introduction into
that state and for making the care
ful selection of the black seed from
which have come all of the best
varieties now grown in the United
States. The first commercial guam
| ity was grown in 1890 by William
Elliott on the ground where Jean
Ribault landed his first colonists
and claimed the country for France.
} The finest sea island cotton is pro-
duced in South Carolina and the
next best in eastern Florida, espec.
, tally in Baker and Bradford coun.
ties. Sea-island cotton require.
more moisture than upland cotton
Both the quantity and the quality