The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-25
The Romance of Cotton
OlUlnbi St2te.l

olIOtI tne cdpllCn, me lUtflil1cc
Of Cotton the New York World aas q
very suggestive editorial article on the
chief crop Of the South. The world
not the New York World. but all man
kinds thinking more of cotton to-
day than it has thought about it since
the period of storm and stress in the
early sixties, when war cut down the
supply. Never, with the exception Of
that period, has the world 50 keenly
realized its need of cotton.
The New York World considers the
story CT Gotten as a romance. Coin
c%itent,' it says, with the shortage in
the American crop and the excited
speculation in the sta pie on the New
York Cotton Exchange. the British
Government has granted $50 600 tor
further experiments in cotton culture
in her tropical African colonies. The
two facts illustrate is really a
romance hidden under dry statistics"
4 year OF two ago we h =:
read much of experiments throughout
the world fer the purpose OF iepriv-
ing the South OF its pre-eulinence in
cotton. But we still hold the markets
If the universe, and Will hold them.
Says the World: No other CO. y
ever held a monopoly Of a vital pro
duct as the Southern States held and
still hold Of cotton" AS to the efforts
made by other countries to raise cot
ton successfully, The World says:
"Despite all the efforts Of other
f2'lt -. fIiellE tFtdi bIIldli III
Russia, the Southern monopoly
Of cotton grows stronger. Our per-
centage Of the worlds cotton crop
rieee SLOW ly, decade by decade.
Egypt raises fine cotton, but
Egypt is only a delta and a strip.
tho total area of which could be
hidden in Louisiana and Miss
issiIpi.
Several years ago Great Brit
ain secured experts from the
United States and sent them 20
tropical Africa to teach the ma
tives how to grow cotton. They
grew it, but either the climate
was too worm or the soil insult
able, as the product was SO coarse
that it could not be used. The
new experiments are likely TO re-
suit in the same way. a" t.
tempts have failed in Australia.
Russia has lone a little in Central
Asia. but it is by irrigation. and
the area there is very limited
After all Of these failures, says the
World, the buyers Of cotton tn "7gHnu
the globe have always come back to
our own South. There, climate, soil
and transportation and a vast supply
of cheap and effective dor seem to
have created these conditions which
have enabled her. despite a dtsorgan-
lied social system, TO produce regr-
larry from 20 to 80 per cent. OF the
worlds cotton. A single staple has
never before had so powerful an In
~f1uence over such a vast region and
been SO influential in making human
l. tory"
" ~-hcrn cotton has mad and
will continue to make history. It
has. BESIDES. made comfort and N"p-
piness. given employment to millions
of rprcors. ond made p0SSihle a very
large part Of the industry and ongo-
~ Of the world. II has had in It's
story erhap even more romance than
~ wv vo~'- world suppOses. AS
Timrod sings. it is:
y IRON doth spring
J, That miohty which. con-
fined
To the mean channels OF no selfish
mart.
Goes out to every shore
6 f his broad earth. and thrOngS the
sea with ships
That bear no t%hunders; bushes hun-
In alien lands;
Joins With 4 delicate web renotest
f strands;
; And, gl~addenirg rich and poor,
} Doth Gid Partisan domcs,
Or feed 80 cottage smoke Of English
homes,
And only bound its blessings by man.
kind.
That is the true romance" Of our
other things now besides the cot
tage smoke of English homes 1t is
making the South prosperous and po-
tent.
Second childhood comes early in
middle life to many who have to take
! consolation prizes in the game Of mat