COTTON 



r>09 



iii ili.' pii|ii<-iion of sugar and other articles. In 

 tin' thirty yeare ended 1820, the quantity fell off 

 nearly ."><) per cent., while tin- proportion of West. 

 Indian in tin- totul ini|M>rtM from nil countries fell 

 from 7<> percent, down to barely 7 percent. Thirty 

 yean* later it was only aliout one-tenth of 1 per cent. 

 During tin- American war there was an increase to 

 aliont in, (MX) hales. After the clone of the war the 

 import fell rapidly away. In 1870 it was al>out 

 6000 bales; in 1886, only 150 bales; in 1887, 1160 

 bales. 



After the West Indies, the chief sources of supply 

 a century ago were the countries liordcring on the 

 Mi-ilili-n-iineun Asia Minor, Cyprus, &c. The 

 large increase in the imports from the Mediter- 

 ranean since 18*20 is due to the development of the 

 cotton industry in Egypt. The cotton-plant has 

 been in existence in Egypt from time immemorial, 

 but the cotton known as Egyptian is the product 

 of an exotic plant introduced by the French alnmt 

 the iK'^imiin.L,' of the present century from the Isle 

 <le Bourbon, into which it had l>een introduced from 

 Barbadoes. M. Jumelle, a French mechanician, 

 saw the plant in a garden at Cairo in 1821, and at 

 his suggestion Mehemet Ali gave instructions that 

 as 1 1 1 in i i seed as could be obtained should be planted 

 in Lower Egypt. The first crop produced about 

 1000 cantars or 93 Ib. net, and with the seed from 

 this about 35,000 cantars were raised in the 

 succeeding season (1822-23), say about 8000 bales 

 of 400 Ib. In 1824-25 the crop reached 228,000 

 cantars, or 53,000 bales of 400 Ib. During the 

 subsequent ten years the culture was more or less 

 interrupted, owing to political disturbances, and at 

 times seriously reduced in consequence of the with- 

 drawal of a large number of labourers to carry on 

 the wars of the Pasha in the Soudan, Syria, &c. 

 From 1867 to 1879-80, with occasional fluctuations 

 owing to unfavourable seasons, there was a gradual 

 increase, until the total reached 3,168,000 cantars, 

 since which but little progress lias been made, 

 partly in consequence of the fall in prices, and 

 partly owing to tlie slower increase in the demand 

 for long-stapled cotton, compared with that of the 

 shorter stapled growth of America. In 1884-85 

 (a good year) the area planted was 912,000 English 

 acres, and the product 335,000,000 Ib. ; in 1887-88 (a 

 poor year) 1,060,000 acres produced 282,700,000 Ib. 



There are several varieties of cotton produced, 

 but they are all from one species. Out of a 

 total crop of 3,000,000 cantars, about 2,500,000 

 consist of Asimouni and similar varieties. The 

 staple is good and the colour brown. About 100,000 

 cantars consist of Gallini, which is long and silky 

 in staple, and competes with Sea Island. The 

 remaining 400,000 cantars will consist of white 

 cotton similar in staple to the brown, and not 

 unlike extra-stapled Orleans. Gallini was (1888) 

 quoted 8fd. to lid. per Ib., brown 3Jd. to 8d. per 

 ID., and white 5|d. to 7d. per Ib. ; against Hid. to 

 21d. per Ib. for Sea Island, and 4d. to 6d. for the 

 current grades of Orleans. 



In 1860 the total import of cotton into Europe 

 from Turkey and other Mediterranean countries, 

 except Egypt, was only 21,000 bales of 400 Ib. In 

 1865 it rose to 239,000 bales, fell to 129,000 in 1867, 

 and rose to 207,000 in 1869. Since 1880 it has 

 fluctuated between 24,000 and 50,000 bales of 400 

 Ib. During the height of the cotton famine ( 1863- 

 65), Italy and Greece produced 100,000 to 120,000 

 bales of 400 Ib., a large part of which is included in 

 the imports of these years, but they do not now 

 produce more than 10,000 bales. 



The first import from Brazil arrived in 1781. 

 In the five years 1786-90 the receipts averaged 

 5000 bales of -400 Ib. In thirty years they were 

 increased tenfold ; but with a plentiful supply from 

 the United States there was little further progress 



during the thirty years ended 1H50. The cotton 

 famine led to an extensive expansion in production. 

 In 1879 there had been a reduction to 7,<HX) hale*; 

 but by 1887 there wan a recovery to '207,000 bale*. 

 From other places in Central and South America 

 the imports into Great Britain in the five years 

 (1H83-H7) from I'eru lluctuatwl from 3,030,000 to 

 7,4 11, (XX) Ib.; from Chili, 284,000 to 1,560,000 Ib.; 

 i" rom Venezuela and other portion?- of South 

 America, 310,000 to 1,549,000 Ib. .)/,,,-., uHea 

 about 180,000 bales of 400 Ib., of which 130.000 



are home-grown, and f>0,000 imported from 

 the United States (44,000 bales of 456 Ib.). 



In their search for the increased supply of cotton 

 requisite to meet the wants of the rapidly growing 

 industry of a hundred years ago, the spinners of 

 Lancashire naturally directed their eyes towards 

 India, where the plant had been cultivated and the 

 manufacture carried on from time immemorial ; 

 and at their suggestion the East India Company 

 imported a small parcel in 1789 alxmt 5000 Ib., 

 which was followed by about 400,000 Ib. in 1790. 

 The venture, however, was not satisfactory, and in 

 1791 the arrivals fell to about 3000 Ib., and m 1792 to 

 nothing. But high prices brought renewed supplies, 

 and in 1880 the imports reached 6,630,000 Ib., or 

 about 16,000 bales of 400 Ib. In 1790 West India 

 cotton was selling at 12d. to 21d. per Ib., but in 

 1798 the quotation ranged from 25d. to 40d. per Ib., 

 in which year American was quoted at 22d. to 45d. 

 per Ib. Thence to the end of the Napoleonic wars 

 there were very wide fluctuations (see next page). 

 These variations in prices led to considerable fluctu- 

 ations in the imports of cotton from India, but the 

 general tendency was in the direction of increased 

 figures ; the arrivals in 1806-10 averaged 25,000 

 bales of 400 Ib. per annum ; in 1816-20 they rose to 

 nearly 94,000 bales, but in 1826-30 fell to 55,000 

 bales. The large import between 1816 and 1820 be- 

 came so unsaleable that 10,000 bales ( Bengals ) were 

 shipped from London to China ! Since 1830 the 

 imports have been larg^e or small, according to the 

 outturn of the crops in the United States. This 

 was especially the case prior to the American war, 

 but the impetus given to the industry by the 

 cotton famine incidental to that event, led to such 

 greatly improved methods of ginning and handling 

 the crop, that the supply from India is no longer 

 merely supplementary to that from America. The 

 quality is greatly superior to the imports of a 

 quarter of a century ago, and of recent years the 

 consumption in Europe has averaged 1,500,000 

 bales, against only 500,000 in 1860, and only about 

 200,000 in 1850. The total crop of India is about 

 2,600,000 bales of 400 Ib., of which 1,000,000 bales 

 are consumed in India, and 1,600,000 hales exported. 

 Considerable changes have taken place in the 

 distribution of the crop during the past quarter of a 

 century. Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal 

 (November 1869), the bulk of the cotton received 

 into Europe from India came in the first place to 

 England. Half the imports were also spun in 

 Great Britain ; but since the opening of the canal, 

 continental spinners have taken the bulk of their 

 requirements direct, while the quantity consumed 

 in England is only about one-sixth of the total 

 consumption of Europe. These changes are set 

 forth in the following account of the imports into 

 Europe, and the deliveries for consumption in the 

 years named in 1000's of bales as imported (360 Ib. 

 to3931b.): 



IMPORT direct. CONSUMPTION. 



Oiwt Britain. Continent ToUI. 



1801 986 IS :' 



1868 1452 103 1645 



1873 1288 408 1696 



1882 1062 721 1773 



1887 668 934 1602 



Gnat Britain. Continent Total. 



348 423 770 



801 859 1660 



687 942 1629 



46S 1133 1698 



259 1268 1627 



The variations in the two totals arise from varia- 



