Cotton 



331 



in 1902, there was another natural shortage in the supply from America, which was made 

 worse by the action of speculators endeavouring to form a " corner " in cotton, and mills in 

 Lancashire had to close, or work only for part time, causing much hardship to the operatives. 

 To endeavour to guard against the repetition of such occurrences, the British Cotton Growing 

 Association has been formed to promote, with the co-operation of the Government, the cultiva- 

 tion of cotton in the British Empire, and to make England to some degree independent of the 

 American supply. More recently British cotton spinners ;have taken action With. a view to 

 themselves becoming cotton producers in the United States. Much experimental work has 

 been carried out with the aid of the British Cotton Growing Association in various colonies. 

 The old cotton industry in the West Indies has been revived, due in great measure to the 

 activity of the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies. * The dormant cotton 

 industry of Lagos has taken new life and increased' enormously. Northern Nigeria offers 

 immense fields if proper transport can be provided. In East Africa and various other parts of 

 the world it has been proved that good cotton can be grown. Steps are being taken to improve 

 the grade of cotton produced in India, which, although it now yields large crops, does not supply 

 cotton of sufficiently good quality for the English market. 



The French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch Governments are also making efforts 

 to extend cotton cultivation in their colonies, and in a few years' time it will be demonstrated 

 which countries are able to produce cotton of good enough quality and at sufficiently low cost 

 to compete in the world's markets with that from the present established sources of supply. 



Varieties 



There are numerous varieties of cotton, but for commercial purposes we can confine our 

 attention to the most important. 



• Upland or American Cotton. This is the kind in the greatest demand. It is obtained 

 from a plant known as Gossypium hirsutum, originally perhaps a native of Mexico, but now 

 cultivated- in the United States and in other parts of the world. Each seed bears both long 

 and short hairs, the latter remaining attached to the seed after the long ones are removed, 

 so that the seeds present a " fuzzy " appearance. 



Indian Cottons. 

 These are the produce 

 of various species, 

 amongst which G. her- 

 baceum is the most 

 important. The seeds 

 have a short fuzz in 

 addition to the longer 

 hairs. 



Sea Island Cotton. 

 The most valuable of 

 all cottons, owing to 

 the comparatively great 

 length (about two 

 inches) of the fibre, and 

 its silky character. The 

 seeds bear long hairs 

 only, and are left quite 

 clean and smooth when 

 these are pulled off. 



Sea Island COtton is Photo by Putnam and Valentine 



often considered to be cotton on the wharf at new Orleans 



