The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16

 ? In the upper Piedmont region it is 190 days, or about two months shorter period. cotton bloom will produce a boil In ) about 24 days. Along the Atlantic coast in the Carolinas. the current of the gulf stream warns the air and the surface of the earth far inland Thus Is produced favorable conditions, ther.naly, for the propagation of the tiny fur-coated seed in a section that otherwise would prove unfavorable for the profitable culture of the cotton plant Today, however. in sections of the short season" in North Carolina and Virginia white families, in isolated instances, plant a few rows of cotton. hand-pick the lint from the seed. card and spin it in the primitive way. and knit stockings and socks for the family. I sent a few years ago a large bundle of cotton (sampes) to one of these families In Person county, North Caro- lina- It is good days work for a hand to pick the seed from one pound of lint
 And the cultivation of cotton, carried largely, the ownership of slaves to the rich lands of the cotton belt. The Vir- ginians and Carolinans, many of them purchased Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana lands, and travelled overland to their possessions, carrying many of their chattels with them each journey. l The Spanish have proyerb that where treads' the foot of the sheep the land | turns to gold. Time was, in the olden and golden days, that princes owned broad acres where every smile of a happy 'darky' was met with a white faced, fruitful cotton bloom and. riches and luxury and happiness abounded.
 Romance of Cotton
 The story of the evolution of the de- yelopment of the present day cotton plant of the south. with its crop of approximately 16,000,000 bales, valued for its lint and by-products at s1,00O,- 
 l through its fabric The first and most serious question, after solving the soil and climate, and question of latitude in the larger and practical and profit able sense. was the question of separ- ating the seed from the lint. New Eng land, to whom the credit of much of the tractable, cheap labor in slaves of the south is due. also solved this ques- ton. Eli Whitney of Massachusetts found 1t and his genius transferred the lcrude and tedious labor of hand pick ing to the cotton gin and To, 40, ,00 900 : spindles in times of peace and pros perity, sing their spinning song night and day around the globe! Every civ ilized country on earth today has its cotton mills It is true that the crude , churka" of the Chinese, by slow pro- } cess was used to gin long stapled } cotton known as the present day "sea island" commercially, but it was of little
 
 crop.
 The first model of the present cot ton gin on the lines of the old fashion music box and about the size of one was made in the basement of the home of Mrs. General Nathaniel Greene, Mulberry Grove" near Savannah. Ga. Eli Whitney, an impecunious, youthful } school teacher. who met his hostess and patroness on the ship coming south, found the position as school teacher he sought already filled He remained on the plantation and made himself useful. He had wonderful inventive , genius.
 Some of General Greens companions in arms and fellow Georgians, were visit ing Mulberry Grove" and the discussion turning on the need for mechanical de- vice to remove the seed from cotton, Mrs. Greene called in young Whitney, and he took up the work. The gin was made in 1793 and patented in 1794 and the docu- ment was signed by George Washington, 1 President
 Three years after the Whitney inven- ton, Hodges Holmes patented saw gin. Years of litigation ensued. and finally the highest court of the land gave to f Whitney the right of priority, and the ex- elusive patent He received from the state of South Carolina 50,0O0 for the use I North Carolina paid royalty of 2s-6d per , gin for four years use. netting the in- ventor some $S0,OO0 Owing to the feeling in Georgia to the Holmes patent. that state refused to use the Whitney inven- ton. 3
 Arkwright's Guarded Invention Twenty five years before Whitney had : solved the greatest of all problems in the preparing for the spindle and the loom cotton lint removing the seed by ginning, Richard Arkwrght had made his frame. The barber-afterwards a hair dyer and 1 1nola % spinning frame. There is legend in Lan- cashire today that some years prior to Arkwrights inventing the frame for null tiplying the capacity of one person GOO times over that with the productive power of the spinning wheel. that a weaver named Earnshaw invented such device, but seeing how many poor per sons would lose employment by it's use, destroyed it.
 Ante-dating Arkwright few years an- other Lancashire weaver had invented a spinning machine and named it after his daughter. who was his assistant, hence the Spinning Jenny" of today. These two inventions coupled and improved upon are in use today.
 The inventions of Arkwrght and liar greayes were jealously guarded. It was forbidden to any person to carry the plans or models out of the British Isles. small models, that attempts were made to ship out of England were confiscated and destroyed. American manufa cturers were offering large bonuses to anyone who could reproduce the Arkwright ma chine Many of the states offered boun- ties to mechanics to produce the machines required.
 In 1.S9 Samuel Slater. a Derbyshire- man, 21 years of age, himself the in- Nenter of improvements to the Ark wright machine. slipped out of England and came to this country, having read an advertisement in newspaper of the liberal bounty given by the state of Pennsylvania for the inventor of a very poorly constructed carding ma chine. He also saw the other rich re- wards. held out by manufacturers in the colonies in this field of inven- ton.
 Slater found the field ripe and the opportunity he sought almost imme- diately. In 1790 he entered into con tract with William Almey and Smith Brown of Providence. R. l., to erect and operate mill flor the spinning of cbtton by water"
 Thus was laid the foundation for the rivalry in cotton spinning and weav- ling In this country with England. This machine was set to work December 21, l179O. Three years later tthe year the cotton gin was invented) the first mill at Pawtucket, R. l., started to work spinning cotton with the Arkwright machine and the firm was Almey Brown and Slater.
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