EXPOSITION, INTERNATIONAL COTTON. 



269 



Watches of all shapes, sizes, and movements 

 were to be seen, from the finest gold-incased 

 chronometer to the five-dollar nickel watch, of 

 one of which every colored man of any preten- 

 sion to refinement strives to be possessed. The 

 Waltham Watch Company made a fine dis- 

 play. Their watches not only excel the old 

 hand-made timepiece in cheapness, but in the 

 uniformity which machinery gives to all their 

 parts, as well as in the simplicity and perfec- 

 tion of their construction. A number of new 

 improvements in watchmen's time-detectors 

 were exhibited. In a prominent place in this 

 hall was a case of artificial limbs of ingenious 

 mechanism, which was doubtless interesting to 

 the number of armless and wooden-legged sol- 

 diers of the "lost cause" who visited the ex- 

 position. Of articles de luxe the number was 

 very small, and it was, perhaps, better that it 

 was so, as the object of the show was strictly 

 utilitarian. The Ralston cotton-cleaner was, 

 par excellence, the work of art which repre- 

 sented most fully the purpose of the enterprise, 

 and which was best suited to the wants of the 

 people for whose benefit it was intended. 

 There were several exhibits of pianos, organs, 

 and other musical instruments, the pianos of 

 Knabe and the organs of Carpenter, of Mas- 

 sachusetts, being adjudged of the highest 

 merit. 



Agricultural Products. This was a full and 

 thoroughly representative exhibit of the agri- 

 cultural resources of the Southern States. Cot- 

 ton, corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, 

 rice, sugar-cane, sorghum, tobacco, sweet-po- 

 tatoes, Irish potatoes, hay, cotton-seed, grass- 

 seed, small seeds of every kind, were displayed 

 in seemingly endless variety and in every de- 

 gree of excellence. Oranges and lemons from 

 Florida, surpassing in size and flavor those of 

 tropical climes ; canned and preserved fruits, 

 from Thomasville, Georgia, equal in color and 

 faultlessness to those of Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey ; and wine from Thomasville, Georgia, 

 from Nashville, Tennessee, from Fayetteville, 

 North Carolina, and from Greenville, South 

 Carolina, which, if it did not rival the vintages 

 of France, Spain, and the Rhine, showed that 

 ere long wine-culture may become one of the 

 leading industries of the States which furnished 

 these samples of their present skill. Cotton, 

 as was natural, was pre-eminent in this display. 

 Its majesty was fully recognized. Georgia's 

 display was the largest, but Alabama, Arkan- 

 sas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Ten- 

 nessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina, 

 were admirably represented. The contest for 

 the great prize of $1,000 was very close. It 

 was hard for the judges, as they passed from 

 the examination of one bale to another, to de- 

 cide which excelled in fineness and length of 

 staple, or in unspotted, creamy purity. As 

 one looked on this aggregated excellence and 

 remembered the part this staple product now 

 plays, and may yet play in ministering to the 

 comfort of the human race, obeisance to King 



Cotton became irresistible. The conditions of 

 the first prize were that the cotton should be 

 other than long staple, the growth of 1881 ; 

 that it should be ginned and baled in the usual 

 way; that the lint should not be haud-picked 

 from the seed, or carded; and that no bale 

 should compete which had not won the lower 

 prize of $100 adjudged to the best bale from 

 each of the competing States. There were thua 

 nine competing bales, each of which had re- 

 ceived a prize of $100, namely : Frdm Georgia, 

 property of W. S. Sanford ; from Alabama, W. 

 S. Brock; from South Carolina, F. A. Schum- 

 pert ; from Tennessee, Porter, Taylor & Co. ; 

 from Arkansas, M. B. Garrison ; from Louisi- 

 ana, L. Steeve ; from Texas, B. F. Oakum ; 

 from North Carolina, M. McGehee ; from Mis- 

 sissippi, Watkins & Houston. The Mississippi 

 bale, raised near Panola, carried off the richest 

 prize of the exposition. For the best bale 

 of upland long staple Mississippi received the 

 prize of $300, that being awarded to the bale 

 exhibited by J. B. Allen, of Vicksburg. For 

 the best bale of Sea-Island cotton, W. J. Ep- 

 person, of Florida, was awarded the pfrize of 

 $100. Prizes were offered also for the best 

 twelve stalks of cotton other than long staple, 

 and for the best twelve stalks of upland long 

 staple. This was, to the general observer, a 

 more interesting competition than that of the 

 bales, as it enabled those who were unfamiliar 

 with the cotton-plant to see it in all its parts 

 stem, root, leaves, bloom, fruit, and seed. In 

 this contest, a lady, who manages her own farm 

 and is a very successful planter, won the prize. 

 Her name is Miss Sallie McRae, of Walnut 

 Grove, Georgia. Some bales of dressed hemp, 

 of excellent quality, were exhibited, and one 

 of them from Florida. There was also a bale 

 of dressed jute, to all appearance as good, in 

 every particular, as that imported from India. 

 Here is another " potentiality." At present, the 

 greater part of the bagging used in baling cot- 

 ton and for other purposes is of foreign growth 

 and manufacture. When it is seen that as good 

 an article can be raised and made at home, and 

 at far less cost, the industry and capital will 

 not, it is hoped, be wanting to utilize this 

 fiber. It is claimed, too, for jute, that when 

 it is planted round a cotton-field, cotton is per- 

 fectly protected from the caterpillars. It is sup- 

 posed that the peculiar odor of the juice of the 

 stalk repels them. There were several fine 

 specimens of the hair of the Angora goat ex- 

 hibited by R. W. Scott, Frankfort, Kentucky, 

 which warrant the hope that this will soon 

 assume an important place among American 

 fibers. It was also proved that the successful 

 culture of the olive on a large scale is among the 

 not remote possibilities. The display of small 

 grains, fruits, etc., was very full and gratify- 

 ing. Kansas erected a trophy in the form of 

 a pagoda, thirty or forty feet high and ten or 

 twelve feet square at the base,* in which were 



* These dimensions were not ascertained by actual meas- 

 urement. 



