218 COTTON 



cotton gin has more than equalled in its relation 

 to the power and progress of the United States." 



In reference to this invention and its effect on 

 cotton manufacturing an early writer has this to 

 say: 



"Its introduction at the particular period when 

 the completion of the brilliant series of inventions 

 for carding, spinning and weaving cotton had cre- 

 ated a demand for the raw material, at once directed 

 into a new and profitable channel the agriculture 

 of the South, and at the same time furnished the 

 manufacturing industry of Europe and America 

 with one of the most valuable staples, and the ship- 

 ping and commercial interests of the world with an 

 enormous trade in its raw and manufactured pro- 

 ducts. The increase in growth and exportation of 

 new cotton which followed has no parallel in the 

 annals of industry, save in the wonderful develop- 

 ment of its manufacture in Europe and America." 



The effects in all their magnitude of the growth 

 of cotton culture and manufacture in increasing 

 material wealth, in furnishing employment to labor 

 and capital, and in increasing the comfort of all 

 classes, can hardly be conceived. 



THE EARLY GIN 



The gin in its early days consisted of a series of 

 fine tooth circular saws fastened upon a wooden 

 cylinder about three-fourths of an inch apart, 

 and revolving in slits cut in a steel plate, less than a 

 quarter of an inch wide. A mass of cotton in the 

 seed is laid on this plate. As the saws revolve 

 the teeth passing down between the openings, pull 

 off the lint from the seed and carry it through with 

 them, the openings being narrow enough to pre- 



