326 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



OcrouKK 1(5, la 19. 



COTTON. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON MARKET. 



The report of Jlestrs. Heury W. Frust & Co on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Soutliein States, for the 

 week ended September 27, 1919, is as follows: — 



ISLANDS. The market has remained very quiet since our 

 last circular of the 13th inst, the only sales being two small 

 crop lots for export at 80c and 90c. 



The receipts of new crop cotton are very small and have 

 not been ofifered as yet for sale. The planters are expectant of 

 very high prices on account of small crop in piospect, and are 

 today unwilling to consent to sell odd bags, classing Fine to 

 Fully Fine, at 72^c , f. o. b and freight. We are inclined to 

 think, however, that as soon as the receipts are larger we will 

 be able to buy on a parity ,with prices ruling for Georgias and 

 Floridas. 



i;eoi:gi.\s and floridas. There has continued a steady 

 demand for lie old crop cotton which is held in the country, 

 havint! been carried oter from the crops of 191 Mis and 

 1918-19. the prices ranging for Average Extra Choice from 

 70c. to 72c., f.o.b. and freight. The holder.? of this stock 

 are showing more disposition to sell. Consequently with 

 orders iu hand admitting of buying all grades from Extra 

 Fine to Fancy, we can buy occasionally to better advantage. 



The receipts of new crop are very small, and none has 

 been offered yet on the Savannah market. 



We quote, viz. : — 



Average Kitra Choice, 68c. to 70c f.o.b and freight. 



The exports from Savannah for the past two weeks 

 have been, to Uoiterdam 80 bales, Northern Mills 232 bales, 

 and from .Jacksonville to Northern Mills 932 bales. 



The United States Census Bureau reports cotton ginned 

 to September 1, as follows : — 



South Carolina, none, against last year, 1 bag 



Georgia 19 „ ,, 97 



Florida 11 ., „ 100 



Total 



19b bales 



30 bales 



CROP ADVICtiS. 



Islacds. We regret to have to confiiin our previous 

 report that the boil weevil has appeared very generally, and 

 in .some localities has done very serious damage. The top 

 fruit has generally been destroyed. Consequently crop 

 estimates are now reduced to 5,000 bales. 



Georgia and Florida. The accounts from the.se States 

 continue unfavourable. In corjaequence of much reduced 

 acreage, and the lavages of the boll weevil, which have made 

 their appearance generally, crop estiraate.s of these two 

 States are reduced, and range from 5,000 to 10,000 bales. 

 We do not wish to commit ourselves to .show low estimates. 

 However, the total crop of all three States may not reach 

 20,000 bales, and will be harvested very early, there being 

 no top crop. 



Arizona. Advices from this section are very favourable 

 Some of our correspondents, however, think the crfip may 

 not exceed 4-"), 000 bales. Therefore a conservative estimate 

 of the crop to-day ranges around 50,000 bales. We quote 

 Average No. 2 quality at 67c., landed eastern points. 



ORIGIN OF SEA ISLAND COTTON 



At the iiitcting of the Manchester Literary and 

 Philosi phical Society held in 1830, Mr. John Kennedy, one 

 of the two founders of the present firm of McConnel i Co., 

 Ltd., read a letter (fr')m which an extract isseen below), 



which had appeared previously in the Charleston Courier 

 (South Carolina). (Date omitted ) 



The letter is cif inleresl as furni.Oiing information as to 

 the origin, or rather the manner of introduction, of Sea 

 Island cotton into the Southern States 



Ileference is first made to the earlier cultivation of 

 short staple cotton in North America. Ibis wis carried 

 on tor domestic purposes long before the revohuiinary war 

 against England. ' Two species of the same family then 

 existed in this country (Georgia) — the real green seed, and 

 a low cotton resembling it in blossom — b"th being of a pale 

 yellow approaching to vhite; one with the seed covered 

 with fuzz, the other with fuzz only upon the end of the 

 seed.' It is believed by the writer that the first short staple 

 seed was introduced via England from Turkey, though lie 

 giv3s no authoritative reason for this statement. 



In particular regard to Sea Lland cotton, the writer 

 of the letter (Thomas Spalding, of Darien, Georgia)' pro- 

 ceeds as follows : — • 



' The Sea Island cotton was introduced directly from 

 the Bahama Islands into Georgia. i he revolutionary war 

 that closed in 1783 had been a war not less of opinion and 

 of feeling than of interest, and had torn asunder many of 

 the relations of life, whether of blood pr of friendship. 

 England offered to the unhappy settlers of this country who 

 had followed her .standard, a h' me in but two of her pro- 

 vinces. To tie provincials of the ni rth she offered Nova 

 Scotia, to the provincials of the south, the Bahama Islands. 

 Many of the former inhabitants of the Carolinas and Georgia 

 passed over from Florida to the Bahamas wih their slaves. 

 But what could they cultixate? The rocky and arid soil 

 of those islands could not grow sugarcane ; coffee would 

 grov", but produced no fruit. There was one plant that 

 would grew, and that bore abundantly — it was cotton. The 

 seed, as I have been often informed by respectable 

 gentlemen from the Bahamas, was in the first instance 

 procured from a small i.^iand in the West Indies, 

 celebrated for its cotton, called Anguilla. It was therefore 

 long after its introduction into this country called Ar.guilla 

 seed. 



'Cotton, as I have already stated, had taken .i new 

 value by the introduction of the ."^pinning machine into 

 England. The i|uality of the Bahama cotton was then 

 considered among the be.st grown. New life and hope were 

 imparted to a coiony and a people with whom even hope itself 

 had been almost c.vtinct. This first success, as is natural to 

 the human mind under whatever influence it may act, recall- 

 ed the memory of the friends they had left behind them. 

 The winter of 1786 brought several parcels of cotton seed 

 from the Bahamas to Georgia ; among them (in distinct 

 remembrance upon my mind) was a parcel to the Governor 

 Tatnall, of Georgia, from a near relation of his, then 

 Surveyor General of the Bahamas ; and another parcel at 

 the same time was transmitted by Colonel Itoger Kelsall, 

 of Exunia, who was among the first, if not the very first 

 successful growers of cotton, to my father .Mr. Jamea 

 Spalding, then residing on St. Simon's Island, Georgia, 

 who had been connecleii in business with Cidonel Kelsall 

 before the revolution. I have heard that Governor 

 Tatnall, then a young man, gave his seed to Mr. Nichoias 

 Turnbull, lately deceased, who cultivated it from that period 

 successfully. 



' I know my father planted his cotton teed in the 

 spring of 1787, upon the banks of a sm;ill rice field on St. 

 Simon's Island. The land was rich and warm, the cotton 

 grew large and blossomed, but did not ripen to fruit ; it 

 however ratooned, or grew from the roots the following 



