bales; East Indies, etc., 1,562,000 bales; Egypt, 1,228,000 bales; Brazil, etc., 250,000 bales, or a total of 12,177,000 bales of 500 pounds each. The accompanying Table No. 1, taken from Bulletin No. 58, census of 1900, gives the cotton crop in the United States by States, according to censuses of 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900, for the crops of the preceding year. The bale measurement of 1890 was 477 pounds; in 1880 it was 433 pounds; in 1870 it was 440 pounds. It is interesting to note the States in which cotton has at some time been cultivated. The Bulletin states that "early settlers north of the Ohio River planted cotton for domestic uses between 1749 and 1780. The census for 1860 gave for Illinois 1482 bales, or 659,490 pounds of cotton. COTTON IN THE UNITED STATES. The first authentic record of cotton cultivation in the United States was at Jamestown, Va., in 1607. Sea Island cotton was introduced from the West Indies in 1786. The first exportation was in 1747, when eight bags were sent to England, the first shipment of any importance being 2000 pounds in 1770. In 1791, 189,316 pounds were exported; Whitney's invention of the saw gin in 1793 raised this amount to 17,789,803 pounds by TABLE I.—COTTON GROWN IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE YEARS 1869, 1879, 1889, AND 1899 (IN BALES) South Carolina 876,545 837,105 Tennessee 181,842 330,621 190,579 215,175 211,641 6.0 2.3 Texas 350,628 805,284 1,471,242 2,658,555 2,609,018 11.6 27.9 Utah 22 Calculated on basis of 500-lb. bales. 1800. The production reached 2,160,000,000 pounds in 1860, and amounted to 4,506,000,000 pounds in 1895 (9,467,000 bales reckoned at 484 lbs. net each). Cheapening the processes of cultivation and cleaning, and increase of acreage, have so lowered the cost of the fibre that while the average price in Liverpool was 1s. 6d. (say 36 cents) per pound in 1793, it was 54d. (say 112 cents) in 1851; averaging 7d. (14 cents) for the five years ending 1861. In 1867 there was a decline from the high prices consequent upon the Civil War to 7 d. (144 cents), but in a few months it reached 1s. 1d. (26 cents). In 1890 it ranged from 5 9-16d. to 64d. in Liverpool, from 104 cents to 124 cents in New York; while in 1899 the range of price in New York was from 5 5-16 cents to 65% cents, with an average of about 6 cents per pound, the 1900 values being considerably higher. The acreage in cotton of the ten cotton-growing States for the season of 1899-1900 was as follows: Stimulated by the high prices following the Civil War, the cultivation of cotton was conducted to a limited extent in California, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Utah, and West Virginia. With the coming of low prices, cotton culture gradually disappeared from those sections not peculiarly adapted to it, and censuses after 1870 credited none to California, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Utah, or West Virginia. Natural selection continues to eliminate the industry from sections less favored by climatic conditions. To illustrate: Kentucky is credited by the censuses of 1880 and 1890 with 1367 and 873 bales respectively, but the census of 1900 finds in this State only 84 commercial bales. The loss in those States lying along the northern border of the cotton belt is more than offset by the increase found in the territory west and southwest of the Mississippi River. According to the Eleventh Census 2,872,524 bales, or 38 per cent. of the entire American crop of 1889, was grown in that region, while in the census of 1900, in the same territory, the production reaches 4,250,940 bales, or 45 per cent. of the whole crop." The value of the exports of cotton from the United States between the years 1895-99 aver2,784,000 aged $213,378,243 a year. The United Kingdom 1,179,000 took 49 per cent.; Germany, 22 per cent.; France, 1,726,000 11 per cent.; Italy, 5.2 per cent.; Spain, 3.8 816,000 per cent.; Belgium, 1.8 per cent.; Japan, 1.7 622,000 per cent.; Russia, 1.6 per cent.; and Canada, 23,521,000 1.5 per cent. The number of spindles in Europe and the United States, September 30, 1900, and the consumption of cotton for the season of 1898-99, are as follows: COUNTRIES Great Britain Number of Annual consumption round numbers bales of 500 lbs. 45,400,000 Continental Europe... United States. * 18,100,000 India 4,728,000 Total. 100,728,000 Spindles in Northern States, 14,150,000. "Southern "" 3,950,000. + Bales of 392 pounds. 3,519,000 4,836,000 3,582,000 + 1,675,000 13,612,000 principal producing regions. In Tennessee the cost of the 1880 crop was from 3.5 to 10 cents per pound, that of 1893 averaged 7 cents. The average production for the United States in 1900 was about 200 pounds per acre. MANUFACTURE. The process of transforming cotton from its raw condition after picking into the thread or cloth that is such an essential of daily life is one which involves many different operations. It must first be cleaned to remove sand, dust, and other foreign substances. It then contains about two-thirds of its weight in seeds, which must be removed. Cotton-Ginning.-Before Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton-gin, the removal of the seeds by hand was so difficult a task that very little cotton was raised. It would take one person two years to turn out an average bale of cotton, three to fifteen of which are produced by one machine in one day. Before the Civil War the gins were run chiefly by mule-power, which, when operated in connection with slave labor, was cheaper than steam. Whitney's cotton-gin, known as the saw gin, may be briefly described as a series of circular saws with fine teeth, revolving with an arc of their circumference projecting through a guide into a receptacle for seed cotton. These saws tear the lint from the seed and carry it through the guide. It is removed from the saws by a brush and carried to a condenser. Great care must be exercised not to injure the cotton (1) by having the saws too close to the bars of the grate, so as to rub; (2) by having them revolve too fast; or (3) by having the teeth too sharp. See Brooks, Cotton (New York, 1898). The roller gin is growing in favor among cottonproducers, especially for the long-staple or Sea Island cotton, and in the United States and Egypt all long-staple cotton is ginned in this way. It removes the seed with only one-fifth the rapidity of the saw gin, but it does not injure the fibre. In a primitive form it has been used in Egypt and India for many centuries. It consists of two rollers, revolving in opposite directions, between which the cotton is passed and the smooth, hard seeds thrown off. saw gin and roller gin have been much modified and their effectiveness increased by successive improvements. COST OF PRODUCTION. A great many estimates have been published as to the cost of production of a crop of cotton. None of these are accurate or of value, as so many factors must be considered, such as different soils, methods of cultivation, season, etc. According to Hammond, the cost of producing Sea Island cotton in 1880 ranged in South Carolina from 15 to 21 cents a pound; in Georgia, 50 cents per pound of lint. The cost of producing upland cotton varied within wide limits. In North Carolina in 1880 it ranged from 6.2 cents in the Piedmont region to 7.3 cents in the Pine levels. In 1892 the range was from 3.5 to 6.6 cents. The cost in South Carolina in 1880 ranged from 6.91 to 8 cents; in 1892 it was 6.6 cents for the Pine Hills region; in 1893, from 5 to 14 cents dependent upon the nature of the soil. In Georgia the crop of 1880 was estimated at from 3 to 6 cents for the Pine Hills region and 8 to 10 cents in other regions; the crop of 1892 averaged 7.5 cents per pound; that of 1893, 6.75 cents. In Alabama, in 1880, the crop cost from 3 to 8 cents per pound; in 1892, from 4.5 to 7.75 cents; and in 1893 it averaged 8 cents. In Mississippi the cost varied from 4 to 11 cents in 1880, and from 4 to 8.4 cents in 1893, dependent upon the producing region. In Louisiana the cost varied in 1880 between 6.8 to 7.4 cents, and in 1893 between 4.9 and 7 cents. In Arkansas in 1880 the range was from 6.2 to 7 cents per pound; in 1893 from 4 to 7 cents. In 1880 the Texas crop cost from 3 to 9 cents per pound, with averages of from 4.5 to 6.5 cents in the TABLE II.-COTTON-GINNERIES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1899 (FROM TWELFth United STATES CENSUS) STATE Both the In Bulletin No. 58, on Cotton-Ginning, Twelfth United States Census, Daniel C. Roper divides cotton-ginneries into three general classes: Those conducted exclusively for the public, those conducted exclusively for the plantation, and those conducted for both the public and plantation. Table II., preceding, shows the number of all classes by States in the United States. The Bulletin states that "the rapidity with which the private or plantation ginneries have been supplanted by public, and more modern equipments, is noteworthy. Through inquiries of the census of 1880, covering the power and machinery of cotton-ginning establishments, it was ascertained that a large percentage of the crop of 1879 was handled by ginneries of a private character. The motive power of these ginning and baling plants consisted of horses or mules, and each had a daily capacity of from three to five bales. The general introduction of steam-power brought economic methods that have crowded out primitive horse-ginneries to such an extent that they are now curiosities." As shown in the table, there are in the United States 29,620 cotton-ginneries, of which 2863, or less than 10 per cent., are reported as ginning exclusively for the plantation. Bulletin No. 98 of the Twelfth United States Census also deals with cotton-ginning, with particular reference to the crop of 1900, and contains an historical and descriptive sketch of the methods of preparing raw cotton for the market. Baling. The cotton having been separated from the seed, the next step is to pack it in bales, for shipment. Different methods of baling prevail among the cotton-producing countries. The American product, as put up in the old-fashioned tortoise-back bales, has the reputation of being the worst-baled cotton in the world. East Indian cotton is shipped in cubical bales, weighing about 400 pounds, covered with thick Indian hemp and held together with strong iron bands. The Egyptian bale weighs about 700 pounds, is a little thicker and not so long as the American, and has eleven, instead of seven or eight, bands around it. Brazilian cotton comes in very light bales, weighing only 200 pounds, which are tied with trailing vines. In the cotton States of America, the cotton which is not consumed by the Southern mills is shipped to the exporting city, by rail, steamboat, or wagon. It is there graded by the exporter, who fastens a tag to each bale, and also to a sample taken from it. It is from these labeled samples that the foreign manufacturer makes his purchases. The bales are then subjected to enormous pressure, usually by the transportation company, a standard bale weighing 500 pounds. During its progress from the farm to the factory, a bale of cotton is given a series of brands, by the farmer and the ginnery, as well as the exporter, so that fraud can easily be traced. One of the objections to the American baling methods, however, is that the covering becomes so torn that the marks on it cannot be deciphered. The manner in which American cotton is generally baled and pressed for transportation to the markets and mills is not only needlessly expensive and wasteful, but fails to protect the cotton from damage and theft. The bales are covered with jute cloth, made of thread so coarse and loosely woven that, while it adds unnecessarily to the weight of the bale, it does not protect the cotton. The bales are held together by steel bands, which still further increase the weight. The weight of the bagging and ties on a bale weighing 500 pounds is about 23 pounds. Besides the increased freight rates due to this bulky method of baling, the necessity of a second pressing, and the bad condition in which the cotton reaches the factory, a more grave defect is its excessive inflammability, resulting in high insurance charges. So great is this risk that on some passenger steamers cotton is not carried, on account of the danger of fire. An illustration of this danger was afforded by the terrible fire which occurred on the docks of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company at Hoboken, N. J., on June 30, 1900. The fire started in some unknown manner in a lot of cotton-bales and spread with such rapidity that efforts to check it were unavailing. The loss of property caused by this cotton fire has been estimated variously at from $4,000,000 to $6,000,000, and the loss of life was about 200 persons. Within the past few years the cylindrical bale has been growing in favor among all classes of cotton-dealers. The American Cotton Company makes a bale four feet long and two feet in diameter, weighing over 35 pounds per cubic foot. The cotton is pressed gradually, so as not to injure the fibre; and is in the form of a continuous lap or roll. Since the air is pressed out of the cotton, it has no tendency to expand, and the covering is only sufficient to keep the cotton clean. The heavy bagging and ties are entirely dispensed with. The cotton is compressed as fast as ginned and is shipped direct from the ginhouse to the warehouse or mill. The cylindrical bale of the Planters' Compress Company is 36 inches long, 18 inches in diameter, and weighs 250 pounds. This bale is held together by wires passing from end to end through a small opening in the centre. It is covered with cotton duck, and the weight of the cloth and wire is about three pounds per bale. Most satisfactory tests have been made with each of these types of bales, showing that they are both fire and water proof. The other objections to the old-fashioned methods of baling are also met by the cylindrical bales described. Spinning. When the cotton-bales are received at the factory, the cotton from the different bales is first mixed in order that the yarn produced may be of uniform quality. It is next submitted to a process of opening and picking that loosens the fibres which became closely packed together when the bale was pressed. Then follow the processes of carding, drawing, slubbing, roving, spinning, and doubling, by which the cotton-fibre is reduced by successive stages from a web or sheet into cotton yarn. The process of carding is described under that title. Its object, besides cleaning the cotton of any foreign substances still adhering, is to reduce the lap into a thin fleece and then contract it into a ribbon or sliver. The sliver, after being doubled so that inequalities in the single slivers are counterbalanced, is put through a drawing machine, consisting of successive pairs of rollers, each of which revolves more rapidly than the preceding one, and which reduces the sliver to a finer and finer thread. By slubbing and roving, the process of attenuation is continued, the thread in each case taking the name of the machine through which it has just passed. The thread is also twisted, and when it leaves the roving machine it is strong enough to be wound on a bobbin. Spinning is the concluding process, and in this the thread is given |