COTTON. 



COTTON CULTIVATION AND SUPPLY. 



230 



be the aim of the architect to give to his cottages an air of substantial 

 comfort ; to produce broad, massive effects, without allowing any 

 details to thrust themselves into notice. The shadows of his compo- 

 sition should be bold, without rendering necessary any peculiar modes 

 of construction, nay, rather they should be produced by the essential 

 constructive parts of the building itself ; whilst the style adopted 

 should be such as to admit of the simplest mode of execution of the 

 joiners' work and other practical details. Thus, for instance, it ia 

 preferable to make the roofs with broad, overhanging, dripping eaves, 

 than to construct them with boxed gutters and parapet walls, and to 

 make the openings of doors and windows with square heads rather 

 than with circular or pointed arches ; and these precautions may be 

 observed whether the Italian or the later Gothic styles of architecture 

 be adopted. As a general remark, it may however be stated, that 

 extreme archaeological correctness need not be aimed at in the con- 

 struction of cottages ; and that the main practical considerations which 

 ought to be present in the architect's mind are, that the rooms them- 

 selves in the interior should be comfortable and well ventilated. 



The labourers' cottages, intended for the habitation of married men 

 and their families, should always present a living room large enough for 

 the whole family to meet, and to cook their victuals in ; a larder ; a coal 

 or wood store ; and a privy or water-closet ; together with a sufficient 

 number of bed-rooms to allow of a separation at least of the sexes ; 

 and perhaps, as a rule, it may be said that at least three bed-rooms are 

 required in order to maintain the proper decorum of family life ; whilst 

 certainly provision must be made for the removal, at once, from the 

 inhabited part of the dwelling, of the refuse of the whole establish- 

 ment. The minimum size which seems to be admissible for the living 

 room of a family cottage, such as is above described, may be taken to 

 be 13 feet long by 10 feet wide in the clear, by 10 feet high from floor 

 to ceiling ; and the sleeping apartments should be proportioned so as 

 to allow, as nearly as may be, about 1000 cubic feet of space for each 

 occupant, although, unquestionably, a much smaller space might occa- 

 sionally be tolerated ; and indeed, if efficient means of ventilation be 

 provided, the cubical space per individual above allotted may safely be 

 diminished one half. Of course, it would be preferable to erect the 

 cottages of agricultural labourers on the system of what may technically 

 be called detached or trmi-dttaeJied cottages ; but local and economical 

 considerations must ultimately determine the selection of the practical 

 solution to be given to this or to other similar questions. It is to be 

 observed, nevertheless, that there is an economy in building a row of 

 cottages rather than a series of detached residences ; because, in the 

 former, the construction of party-walls must always be less costly than 

 the construction of a series of external walls ; and therefore even the 

 semi-detached cottages would, as commercial speculations, only be 

 resorted to when it was known that the habits of the poorer classes of 

 the population they were intended to lodge were such as to warrant 

 the belief that they themselves would truly appreciate the advantages 

 in the way of privacy which it confers. Precautions must at all times 

 be taken to ensure a copious supply of water ; provision must be made 

 for washing and (hying clothes, and, if possible, also for baking ; a 

 tool-house should be formed ; but, before and above all things, attention 

 should be directed to securing the efficient ventilation of tha different 

 apartments. 



The reader may consult on cottage architecture, Loudon, ' Encyc. of 

 Cott. Arch.,' 8vo, Lond., 1842; Gwilt's 'Encyc. of Arch.,' 8vo. Lond. 

 1854; 'Report of Poor-Law Commissioners on an Enquiry into the 

 Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population,' 1842 ; Roberta, 

 ' Dwellings for the Labouring Classes,' 8vo, Lond. 1850. 



COTTON. In the NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION of the ENGLISH 

 CYCLOPEDIA, under the heading GOSSTPICM, is given an account of 

 the botanical characteristics of the genus of plants to which the cotton 

 tree belongs ; and under COTTON, in the same division, will be found a 

 description of the most important among the many species of that 

 genus. It now falls within the scope of the present division to con- 

 tinue the subject, by treating of the most gigantic manufacture, perhaps, 

 which the world has ever witnessed in one single country the cotton 

 manufacture of Great Britain ; together with the developments of the 

 same system in other countries. To render this large subject intelli- 

 gible to the reader, it will be necessary to adopt a certain mode of 

 classification. First, will be presented a general view of the operations 

 for maintaining and increasing the annual supply of raw cotton for the 

 use of manufacturers ; next, will be given a popular description of the 

 machines and processes of manufacture ; and lastly, will be noticed the 

 trading operations connected with the manufactured goods, in relation 

 to quantities, kinds, persons, and places. These subjects will be treated 

 in three successive articles : COTTON CULTIVATION AND SUPPLY ; 

 COTTON MAXI-FACTI :RE; COTTON TRADE AND CONSUMPTION. 



COTTON CULTIVATION AND SUPPLY. A striking picture of 

 the present state of the cotton supply for the factories of Great Britain 

 was presented by Mr. Dawson, in a paper read at the meeting of the 

 British Association in 1856, ' On the Connection between Slavery in 

 the United States and the Cotton Manufacture of the United Kingdom.' 

 His statistics and reasonings tended to establish these five propositions : 

 1st. That cotton, from the conditions of climate necessary to its culture, 

 cannotfbe grown in Europe ; but that, on the other hand, with the single 

 exception of the factories of the New England States of America, 

 it is, and must long continue to be, manufactured almost exclusively in 



Europe. 2nd. That the present supply is chiefly raised, and for the 

 present must continue to be raised, by slave laboxir ; seeing, that while 

 for fifty years we have sought over the whole earth for cotton, we have 

 during that time continued to obtain from the slave states of the 

 American Union a continually increasing proportion of our entire 

 supply. 3rd. That two-thirds in number at least of the slaves of 

 the United States have been called into existence, and are now 

 directly or indirectly maintained, for the supply of cotton for expor- 

 tation. 4th. That of the cotton thus exported, three-fourths at least 

 in value are raised for, and sent to, this country alone. 5th. That of 

 the entire quantity we import, four-fifths at least in value are thus 

 derived from the United States. The summary assumed the following 

 remarkable form : Two-thirds of all the slaves in the cotton-growing 

 districts of the United States are employed in supplying raw material 

 for the cotton manufactures of our own coxmtry ; and four-fifths of all 

 the cotton-workers in Lancashire and other northern counties are 

 dependent on the supply which those slaves raise. Some of these 

 statements and ratios may not be strictly correct, but the general 

 result is sufficiently near the truth. 



By what steps this gigantic state of things has been produced, and 

 in what direction future changes will have to be sought, we shall now 

 proceed to show, by a rapid glance at the chief cotton-growing districts 

 of the world. This, however, may usefully be preceded by a few 

 paragraphs relating to the culture. 



The finest kind of cotton, which commands the highest price, is 

 called " Sea-island cotton," from the circumstance of its having been 

 first cultivated in the United States of North America, in the low 

 sandy islands on the coast, from Charleston to Savannah. This 

 variety will not flourish at a distance from the sea, and it is said 

 that its quality is gradually deteriorated in proportion as the plants 

 are removed from " the salutary action of the ocean's spray ; " it 

 succeeds best in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This cotton 

 is composed of filaments longer than those of any other variety ; which 

 circumstance, joined to its even and silky texture, fits it for the 

 production of the finest yarns. The seed is black, and in the southern 

 states of North America it is thence frequently called " black-seed 

 cotton," to distinguish it from the short-staple cotton produced in the 

 interior of those states, and which, from a like natural cause, is distin- 

 guished as " green-seed cotton." The seed of the sea-island cotton is 

 sown every year ; but the plant, when cultivated within the tropics, 

 will live and yield harvests for several years in succession. It is sup- 

 posed to have come originally from Persia. The plant was taken 

 from the little island of Anguilla to the Bahamas for cultivation, and 

 was first sent thence to Georgia in 1786; but it is not said how the 

 seed found its way to Anguilla. The supply is small, and the price 

 always relatively higher than other kinds. " Upland " or " Bowed 

 Georgia cotton," the green-seed kind, has received its name of upland 

 to distinguish it from the produce of the islands and low districts near 

 the shores. The expression bowed was given as being descriptive of 

 the means employed for loosening the seed from the filaments ; this 

 was accomplished by bringing a set of strings, attached to a bow, in 

 contact with a heap of uncleaned cotton, and then striking the strings 

 so as to cause rapid vibrations, and thus open the locks of cotton and 

 cause the seeds to be easily separable from the filaments. The re- 

 maining kinds of cotton now brought to English markets are distin- 

 guished by names so plainly indicative of the countries of production, 

 that it is not necessary to offer any description of them with that 

 view. 



To illustrate the operations in a cotton-field, it will suffice to select 

 two examples the short-staple upland cotton of the United States, 

 which forms the bulk of all the cotton used in England ; and the 

 long-staple sea-island cotton, used for our finest muslins. The cultiva- 

 tion of all other kinds may be inferred from those two, sufficiently 

 near for the wants of the general reader. 



For cultivating the ihort-staple upland cotton, the planter prepares 

 his land with a small plough, drawn by one or two mules, which walk 

 rapidly over the ground. A negro slave usually guides the plough. 

 This preparation takes place during the winter months ; it consists of a 

 ploughing, a harrowing, a second ploughing, and a heaping-up into 

 flat-topped ridges. The sowing takes place between March and May : 

 the earlier the better, provided the winter frosts are gone. Some 

 planters deposit the seed in furrows opened by a light plough ; while 

 others carefully dibble the seed at equi-distant intervals. The dibbling 

 is considered the better of the two methods A man proceeds rapidly 

 along, making holes in the ridge with his dibble at intervals of twelve 

 inches ; a woman follows him, dropping five or six seeds in each hole ; 

 and a boy or girl comes in the rear, covering the holes with earth by a 

 light hoe. By much practice under the eye of a vigilant overseer, the 

 negroes become very expeditious in these processes. Drilling machines 

 have not yet been found to work well ; for the upland cotton-seeds 

 being furred by the lint or fibre still adhering to them, and being very 

 adhesive one to another, do not deliver well from the drill. When the 

 young plants shoot ferth, the weakest are cut away, leaving only two 

 in each hole ; and the holes which have failed are supplied by re- 

 sowing; but the chief attention is bestowed on frequent weeding, 

 which is essential to the cleanness and excellence of the crop. The 

 weeding is mostly effected with the aid of light and straight hand- 

 hoes. If the crop lias pretty well escaped the attacks of vermin, 



