OUR LEADING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 53 



COTTON. 



What a royal plant it is ! Tlie world waits in attendance on its growth ; the 

 shower that falls whispering on its leaves is heard around the world ; the sun 

 that shines on it is tempered by the prayers of all the people; the frost that 

 chills it and the dew that descends from the stars are noted ; and the trespass of 

 a little worm upon its green leaf is more to England than the advance of the 

 Russian Army on her Asian outposts. It is gold from the instant it puts forth 

 its tiny shoot. Its fiber is current in every bank, and when, loosing its fleece 

 lo the sun, it floats a sunny banner that glorifies the fields of the humblest 

 farmer, that man is marshaled under a flag that will compel the allegiance 

 of the world and bring a subsidy from every nation on earth. 



— Henry W. Grady. 



