AMERICAN VARIETIES 53 



Georgia and Florida which grow Sea Island cotton 

 also produce considerable quantities of Upland cotton, 

 and for this reason the plant undergoes hybridisation 

 and rapidly degenerates into the ordinary Upland 

 type ; it is therefore necessary to obtain new seed 

 frequently from the coast districts. 



Sea Island cotton is used in commerce for spinning 

 only the finest and best yarns. The quantity of this 

 cotton produced is comparatively small; in 1913 

 about 30 million pounds were produced in the 

 United States and, roughly, 3 million pounds in the 

 West Indies. 



American Upland Cottons. These cottons are used 

 to a very much larger extent than any other 

 varieties, and are employed for the manufacture of 

 yarns of medium quality. They are produced in 

 enormous quantities in the United States, the crop 

 amounting on the average to about 6,000 million 

 pounds or approximately two-thirds of the total pro- 

 duction of the world. The fibre varies in length from 

 0'7 to i 'i inches, and in average diameter from 

 0-00076 to 0*00078 inch. The seeds are usually covered 

 with fuzz or down, differing in this respect from those 

 of the Sea Island variety , which are black and smooth. 

 In the Liverpool market, the American Upland cottons 

 are classed as " ordinary," " good ordinary ," " low 

 middling," "middling," "good middling," "fully 

 good middling," and " middling fair," these grades 

 being indicated by the abbreviations " Ord.," " G.O." 

 " L.M," " Mid.," " G.M.," " F.G.M.," and " M.F." 

 The " ordinary " grade is the poorest class of cotton ; 

 the quality of the other grades improves in the order 

 in which they are quoted, " middling fair " being the 

 best of all. * 



Long-stapled or "improved" Upland varieties. The 

 occurrence of long-stapled Upland cottons in the 

 United States of America and their special value 

 were first brought to general notice about thirty years 

 ago, and from that time onward considerable efforts 

 have been made to cultivate and improve the existing 

 forms as well as to produce new varieties of similar 

 character. These cottons are grown chiefly in the 



