March 1. 1914. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



289 



Cotton — Its Varieties, Geography, Market and Uses. 



/)'v Carl Ot-Uc) 



Till-; cotton production of the world may for industrial pur- 

 poses be divided into two classes — cotton havini,' a Uni^lli 

 of tibre up to about 1 1-16 inches and that of longer stai>k-. 

 The lirst class embraces 90 per cent, of the total production and 

 includes ordinary American Upland, Mexican. East Indian. Rus- 

 sian, Chinese and Turkish cottons. It is spun into coarse ■•uid 

 medium yarns up to about 60s, which go into the great bulk of 

 cotton manufactures for weariiig apparel, household and indus- 

 trial uses. It can be grown in all parts of the world where 

 winter is not protracted, as cotton requires si.\ or seven months 

 of good growing weather. There must be a fair amount of mois- 

 ture, either as rainfall of at least 30 inches, but not exceeding 

 70 inches a year, fairly evenly distributed, or supplied by irriga- 

 tion; and the nuan temperature during the four or five chief 

 growing months must be from 70 to 80 degrees. As these con- 

 ditions obtain over a wide area of the world's surface, the capa- 

 bilities of producing ordinary cotton of the "bread and butter" 

 variety are practically unlimited. This country alone could in- 

 crease its cotton acreage from the present figure of 37yi million 

 acres to 120 million acres without encroaching on the acreage of 

 other agricultural products. 



The remaining 10 per cent, of production embraces .American 

 Sea Island, American long staple Upland, Egyptian, Peruvian, 

 Brazilian and West Indian cotton, also small quantities of Turk- 

 ish, Chinese and Sudan cotton and American cotton grown from 

 Egyptian seed. This class commands a large premium in price, 

 because of its restricted production and its special character, 

 which makes it suitable for purposes where strength and fineness 

 are indispensable. Its special character is either due to climatic 

 influences, to seed selection or both. Long staple cottons arc 

 used for spinning fine yarns for making sewing thread, automo- 

 bile tire linings, mercerized yarns, "silk" goods and for mixing 

 with wool. 



SE.\ ISLAND COTTON. 



Only about 15 per cent, of this cotton is really raised on the 

 islands along and the mainland near the South Carolina coast. 

 The remainder is produced in a narrow belt extending from 

 North Florida through Southeast Georgia. South Carolina, S. L 

 cotton constitutes the cream of the entire cotton yield of Iht 

 world, as its staple attains a maximum length of 2 1-5 inches 

 and can be spun into yarn as fine as 400s and 500s. Comparing 

 with today's price of 13 cents for middling Upland cotton, fine 

 South Carolina S. I. costs 21 cents and extra fine about 50 cent.'? 

 per pound. Florida and (jeorgia S. I. cotton has a maximum 

 length of IJi inches and is suitable for spinning yarns from 150s 

 to 300s. Its present price varies from 17 cents for common to 

 21;/2 cents for fancy. In 1911-12 the total S. I. cotton production 

 of this country reached 123,000 bales of 400 pounds each, but this 

 proved temporarily in excess of the demand, and as at the same 

 time a new Egyptian variety closely resemliling medium S. T. 

 came upon the market, prices became unremuncrative and in 

 1912 the acreage was much curtailed. Production was cut in 

 half, and even the present crop does not promise to yield more 

 than 70,000 bales. Present prices in Liverpool are 2 to 3d. per 

 pound below those of last year and lyi to 3d. below those of two 

 years ago, despite the greatly reduced supply. The apathy of the 

 S. I. cotton grower is further increased by the fact that his fields 

 will soon have to pass through the ordeal of the boll weevil in- 

 vasion. In view of the length of time required to mature S. I. 

 cotton, it is feared that the ravages of the insect will be disas- 

 trous and many farmers will abandon the cultivation of the slow 

 growing S. 1. variety, planting in its stead early maturing Up- 

 land cotton. 



Outside of the United Stales some S. I. cotton is grown in 

 the West Indies, on the Peruvian coast and in Tahiti. To bring 

 out the chief features of S. 1. cotton — length and silkiness of the 

 fibre — it has to be grown near the sea. If grown inland these 

 characteristics soon disajipear and it becomes necessary to ob- 

 tain fresh planting seed from South Carolina. 



.\MERIC.\N LONG STAPLE COTTON. 



L'ntil the advent of the boll weevil this variety was chiefiy 

 produced from selected seed in a strip of country about 75 miles 

 wide and 200 miles long lying in the Mississippi Valley, between 

 .Memphis and Vicksburg. Since the appearance of this insect 



Cof^yriglit l>y Vniicrtii^cd ^ Vndcf7vood, .V. }". 



Cotton PirKixc. in the Soith. 



many farmers have abandoned the cultivation of this long 

 staple cotton, which requires a long time to mature and is thus 

 specially exposed to its devastating attacks. The United States 

 Government is making praiseworthy efforts to introduce 

 types of prolific big boll cotton of \% to 1^ inch staple and 

 possessing the essential early maturity. Such long staple .Ameri- 

 can cottons are now grown in California and Arizona, in various 

 localities of Te.xas, in the Red River Valley, in sections of Ala- 

 bama and also in South Carolina. Very probably with the pass- 

 ing of the boll weevil scare in Mississippi, the "Delta" will also 

 revert to the growing of long staple varieties when prices be- 

 come tempting again. It is difficult to estimate the total produc- 

 tion of long staple cotton in this comitry. Some experts do not 



