144 COTTON CULTURE. 



bility, sweetness, and warmth, to wool or hair, and only a 

 little inferior in elasticity. But the chief advantage of 

 cotton for mattresses is in the fact that so much less ma- 

 terial will suffice to give the same degree of softness, as 

 compared with other materials. A thin cotton mattress 

 for a single bed, or for a steamboat berth, is made to con- 

 tain about ten pounds of cotton. This gives a soft, agree- 

 able couch, easily removed for airing, and one-third cheaper 

 than any other suitable material. 



As a material for bed covers its use is so extensive that 

 little need be said by way of recommendation. For 

 warmth and -lightness combined, nothing is superior, ex- 

 cept very soft double-rose blankets, which are a luxury 

 that only the rich can indulge in. Four pounds of cotton 

 batting, costing say twenty-five cents a pound, stitched 

 between sheets of worn calico, need cost but little more 

 than a dollar, and the amount of comfort thus obtained 

 could be found in heavy woolen blankets only at an out- 

 lay of from fifteen to twenty dollars. 



Cotton can easily be made into blankets which, for soft- 

 ness and comfort, are only surpassed by the finest of 

 wool. Though not so warm as the heavy rose or Macki- 

 naw blanket, they are sufficiently comfortable for the cold- 

 est nights in the cotton region, where the thermometer re- 

 mains but a few nights in the year below 32, and much 

 of the time in winter stands above 40 for weeks together. 



With a little ingenuity and skill, cotton can thus be 

 made, to a family in moderate circumstances in the South- 

 ern States of our country, as great and universal a bless- 

 ing as the Bamboo or the Bread-fruit is to the native of 

 the tropics. 



All that is required are facilities for developing all its 

 useful qualities, and applying them to the production of 

 the greatest amount of comfort. 



Let us, for example, take a family living on the borders 

 of the cotton belt in Tennessee or Western Texas, and on 



