218 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



cases medicinal.'' 1 It is said not to cause that lassitude and 

 inertia which is produced by sleeping on feathers. People 

 not acquainted with it, have supposed they have been sleep- 

 ing on the best feathers, when in fact their beds were made 

 of cotton. The relative cost of cotton compared with feathers, 

 hair, &c., may be seen from the following statement : 



Cost of a Hair Mattress. They are generally sold by the 

 pound, and cost from fifty to seventy -five cents per pound. 

 Thirty or forty pounds will cost $15 or $20. 



Wool. Thirty pounds of wool at thirty cents per pound, $9 ; 

 twelve yards of ticking, at twelve and a half cents per 

 yard, $1 50 ; labor, thread, &c., $2 75. Total, $13 25. 



Feathers. Forty pounds feathers, at thirty cents per pound, 

 $12 ; fifteen yards of ticking, at twelve and a half cents per 

 yard, $1 87; labor, &c., $2 75. Total, $16 62J. 



Cotton. Thirty pounds cotton, at eight cents per pound, 

 $3 40 ; twelve yards ticking, at twelve and a half cents per 

 yard, $1 50 ; labor, thread, &c., $2 75. Total, $7 65. 



It is recommended to run the cotton through a "picker," 

 where one can conveniently be obtained, before using. This 

 gives it additional cleanliness and buoyancy. 



The substitution of cotton for bedding throughout the United 

 States would be an immense saving, beside opening a new 

 avenue for that article, to an extent, according to the estima- 

 tion of this writer, equal "to more than two of the largest 

 crops of cotton ever produced in the United States." 



SECTION III. A NEW USE FOR COTTON. 



A late number of the New York Day-Book contains the fol- 

 lowing notice of a novel application of our great southern 

 staple : 



" Invention, which goes far to make useful almost every pro- 



