402 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Exposition at Atlanta in 1881, where specimens from different sections of the cotton-growing 

 belt of the whole globe were exhibited, the best that Egypt, Persia, India, Russia, Mexico, and 

 other cotton-growing countries could produce, being brought in close comparison with our own. 

 which comparison substantiated the fact beyond question, that, whether taken in part or as a 

 whole, the cotton produced in the United States is so superior to all others, that it gives to 

 our country a practical monopoly of the cotton markets of the world. The superior excel 

 lence of the quality of the product, together with the extent of the cotton belt and the 

 facilities for cultivating cotton that the Southern States afford, give to that section of our 

 country opportunities of no small import, and augur well for the future development of its 



resources, which have 

 never yet been fully 

 tested. 



When we remem 

 ber that, in the year 

 1830, the crop of cotton 

 produced in this coun 

 try reached only 1,000,- 

 000 bales, that the larg 

 est amount ever pro 

 duced prior to 1860 was 

 only a little over 4,500,- 

 000 bales, and that the 

 crop of 1881 was about 

 2,000,000 bales in ex 

 cess of the latter num 

 ber, we can easily see 

 that the possibilities of 

 the cotton production of 

 the United States have 

 not yet been reached, 

 and that the future out 

 look is indeed promis 

 ing. The heavy increase 

 in the cotton crop dur 

 ing the last few years is 

 mainly attributable to 



the increase of the cot 

 ton acreage by the use 

 of suitable fertilizers; 

 thousands of acres of 

 land formerly supposed 

 to be beyond the possible limit of the cotton belt having been made into the best of cotton 

 lands by being artificially enriched, thus hastening the maturity of the crop, as well as the 

 increased product, while partially exhausted lands have been restored by the same means. 



Prof. Morehead, President of the Mississippi Valley Cotton-Planters Association, states that 

 the entire cotton crop of the year 1881 might have been easily raised in fourteen counties bor 

 dering along the Mississippi river. The capacity of the South for cotton production seems 

 almost limitless, and when we consider the enormous demand for cotton goods from all the 

 different parts of the world, and that this is the principal quarter of the globe best adapted 

 to furnish the supply and meet the demand, there is truly a great inducement to Southern 



HAND COTTON-SEED HULLEB. 



