146 COTTON CULTURE. 



Thus, with no more industry or tact than is displayed 

 in ten thousands of American families, the labors of a sin- 

 gle season may be made to furnish ten persons, not more 

 than three of whom are adults, an abundance of plain but 

 warm clothing, a generous equipment of beds and bed- 

 ding, a full supply of yarn, cordage, and ropes, oil enough 

 for two years, and more than a thousand dollars in cash ; 

 beside a full crop of corn, potatoes, oats, wheat, and the 

 usual garden vegetables. Surely there is no other crop 

 cultivated from which such various and such ample returns 

 can be expected, and no part of the world that affords 

 such attractions to the industrious poor, as the higher and 

 healthier portions of the cotton belt of North America. 

 All that is required to make those regions the most desir- 

 able on the continent, is established and orderly society, 

 with such a development of manufacturing skill as will en- 

 able the cotton grower to realize from this admirable 

 plant all that its Creator has designed for the material 

 comfort of man and his social advancement. 



Some years ago, when cotton often brought its producer 

 only six or seven cents a pound, considerable interest was 

 felt in a discovery by which this abundant staple was to 

 be employed as a building material. Some chemist dis- 

 covered a petrifying compound, similar to Roman cement, 

 the effect of which was to convert a mass of cotton upon 

 which it was poured into a substance having the hardness 

 without the brittleness of stone. He proposed to build 

 the walls of houses by piling the cotton between planks 

 at the requisite distance asunder, and pouring the cement 

 upon the mass. But the importance of this discovery, 

 however surprising, was soon neutralized by the increased 

 price of cotton; and with the demand that now exists, 

 and will continue to be felt for many years, there is no 

 likelihood that it will come into active competition with 

 brick and mortar as a building material. 



Some ten years ago, a Louisiana Frenchman, named 



