258 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



United States ; and of this four-fifths is estimated to be im- 

 ported for the factories of Lancashire and Yorkshire. 



Since March, 1845, cotton has been admitted into British 

 ports free of duty. Prior to that period the duty was, of and 

 from British possessions, 8 cents ; from other places, 70 cents 

 per 112 Ibs. 



The number of spindles in operation in England is estimated 

 at more than twenty millions. 



The value of cotton supplied by the United States to Great 

 Britain in 1855 was $57,616,749, being about the average 

 each year the last four. 



The quantity of cotton exported from the United States to 

 England, in eleven months of the fiscal year 1856, is esti- 

 mated at 2,755,000 bales. 



It appears from 4< Commerce and Navigation," that the im- 

 portation of raw cotton from the British West Indies into the 

 United States has increased, for some years past, in a ratio 

 quite proportional to the decrease of such importation into 

 Great Britain. Thus, the importations of cotton into the United 

 States and Great Britain, respectively, from the British West 

 Indies, from 1851 to 1855, inclusive, were as follows : 



1851 Into the U. S. 29,353 Ibs. Gt. Britain. 446,529 Ibs. 



1852 " 6,756 " " 703,696 " 



1853 " 252,892 " " 344,060 " 



1854 " 159,381 " 205,072 " 



1855 " 880,217 " " No data. 



The average price per pound of cotton, from 1851 to 1855, 

 inclusive, in the United States and Great Britain, respectively, 

 is shown as follows : 



