420 



COTTON 



successful experiments as to the possibility of 

 raising it, have been made in the neighbourhood of 

 New York, or latitude 40. 



The cotton-plant is very liable to be injured by 

 spring frosts, or very wet seasons, but more parti- 

 cularly by a most destructive insect called chenille, 

 a caterpillar, which has been known to destroy 

 whole fields of the most promising crops in a single 

 night. Several travellers have given various ac- 

 counts of this insect. Dr Chisholm describes it as 

 being very beautiful, and about an inch in length, 

 with stripes of white down the back, and one on 

 each side, the intermediate spaces being a fine glossy 

 lilaek. The head is round and corneous, armed 

 with two lateral corneous jaws, forming a powerful 

 instrument of destruction. The most singular cir- 

 cumstances respecting this insect, are the fragrant 

 scent that is emitted from the plant on which it 

 feeds, though neither the plant nor the insect pos- 

 sess any scent whatever when separate : also the 

 manner in which the ova are sometimes preserved 

 for a whole year, without any appearance of the 

 chenille, and resisting the efforts of the planters to 

 destroy them, by the use of fire and other methods; 

 and the surprising speed with which its ravages are 

 carried to the most distant parts of the plantation. 



After the cotton is gathered, it is exposed to 

 the rays of the sun, on a tile or wooden platform, 

 for two or three days, till it is perfectly dry and 

 hard. The seeds are then separated by passing 

 through between two wooden rollers which are 

 slightly grooved, and about five-eights of an inch in 

 diameter ; this is called ginning the cotton ; and 

 when ginned, it is carefully picked, to free it from 

 broken seeds, dried leaves, or yellow locks of 

 cotton, &c. The practice of switching the cotton 

 was introduced but not generally adopted, because 

 not approved of by manufacturers. The cotton is 

 afterwards compressed into bales, which is done by 

 means of a screw-press ; in this state it is sent to 

 Europe. 



Cotton is distinguished in commerce by its colour, 

 and the length, strength, and fineness of its fibre. 

 White is usually considered as characteristic of 

 secondary quality ; yellow, or a yellowish tinge, 

 when not the effect of accidental wetting or incle- 

 ment seasons, is considered as indicating greater 

 fineness. There are many varieties of raw cotton 

 in the market ; their names being principally de- 

 rived from the places whence they are brought. 

 They are usually classed under the denominations 

 of long and short-stapled. The best of the first is 

 the Sea-Island cotton, or that brought from the 

 shores of Georgia ; but its qualities differ so much, 

 that the price of the finest specimens is often four 

 times as great as that of the inferior. The superior 

 samples of Brazil cotton are reckoned among the 

 long-stapled. The Upland or bowed Georgia cotton 

 forms the largest and best portion of the short- 

 stapled class. All the cottons of India are short- 

 stapled. The inferiority of Bengal and Surat 

 cotton is sometimes ascribed to the defective mode j 

 in which it is prepared ; but it is doubted whether i 

 it can be grown in India of a better kind. The | 

 raw cotton of the Indian islands has hitherto been 

 almost entirely consumed on the spot. A small j 

 quantity of very superior cotton has been imported , 

 from New South Wales. 



The manufacture of cotton has been carried on 

 in Hindostan from the remotest antiquity. Hero- 

 dotus mentions that, in India, there are wild trees, 

 that produce a sort of wool, superior to that of 



sheep, and that the natives dress themselves in 

 cloth made of it. 



The earliest notice of cotton being brought into 

 England appears about the year 1480, and the 

 whole quantity imported, which was extremely 

 small, evidently reached us by the Mediterranean 

 traders. It was not before the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century that any progress seems to 

 have been made in the manufacture of this useful 

 article. The first accredited account we have: is 

 in the year 1641, when it is said "the townsmen of 

 Manchester buy cotton-wool in London, that come? 

 from Cyprus and Smyrna, and work the same into 

 fustians, vermilions, and dimities, which they re- 

 turn to London, where they are sold, and from 

 thence, not seldom, are sent into such foreign pints 

 where the first materials may be more easily had 

 for that manufacture." But even as late as IT 1 ' >, 

 cotton was but little known in England as an arti- 

 cle of commerce and manufacture. Of its progress 

 subsequent to that period some account will be 

 found in the body of this work. An idea may be 

 formed of its rapid increase from the following bare 

 statement. The quantity of cotton consumed in 

 Great Britain was, 



In 1775 

 1790 

 1805 

 1820 

 1831 

 1838 



137,10) Ibs. 

 . 1,757,504 



. r ,!).7W.tXX> 



\y >.:>::> ooo 



2tt>,700,000 

 600,000,000 



Thus in the course of fifty years the consumpt of 

 cotton may be said to have risen in this country 

 from one million to 500 million of pounds. Previous 

 to 1793, the cotton used in Britain for the manu- 

 facture of the coarser articles was (with the excep- 

 tion of a small quantity from India) wholly grown 

 in our own and the French West India islands ; 

 that for the better kind of these goods, was raised 

 in Surinam, or Demerara and Berbice ; the wool 

 for the fine goods was grown in Brazil, and that 

 for the very few fine muslins, then manufactured, 

 in the isle of Bourbon. 



The advantages of different countries for the 

 cotton manufacture, depend, in a great measure, 

 on their natural condition, long habits, and laws. 

 England is superior to most in the abundance and 

 cheapness of iron for machinery ; in coal for warm- 

 ing buildings and moving steam power ; in suitable 

 climate ; ingenuity, experience, and skill of me- 

 chanics, from great division of labour, &c, ; in 

 greater commerce to find the best markets ; capital 

 at low interest, and wages not high ; and property 

 secure. But taxes in this country and raw material 

 are high, and living is more expensive than in some 

 other places. 



The United States, by numerous and cheap 

 water-falls, have a good substitute for steam, and 

 will soon have coal as low for warming ; have equal 

 ingenuity, but iron and coal are dearer ; raw ma- 

 terial and living both lower, and property as secure; 

 wages and capital higher ; much less taxation : and 

 a protective tariff. 



The subject of wages in the different kinds of 

 manufacture, and in different countries, has not 

 been discussed in detail. It may be interesting to 

 many to know that the average wages in 1832, in 

 the United States, of all employed in a cotton fac- 

 tory, were about 14s. lid. sterling per week; in 

 England, about 10s., sometimes 12s.; in France, 

 only 5s. 6d. ; in Switzerland, 4s. 5d. ; in Austria, 

 3s. 9d.; in Saxony, 3s. 6d. ; and in India, from la. 

 to 2s. per week. 



