ypB.^.iVv;.>„..*Jj= 



1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



37 



it in thoroughly, and try for the prize ; look 

 to your stock, that it is in good growing 

 condition, ready for the trial ; look carefully 

 through the long list of industrial pruducts, 

 whether of the soil, the shops or the minei 

 and see what you can do ; do nat permit 

 yourself to think that you cannot succeed, 

 but do your best, and leave the result to a 

 fair competition. 



The Culture of Cotton in Illinois. 



In the present aspect of affairs, it is well 

 to t^ke a wide survey of products that are 

 capable of being produced in our State. 

 Cotton, to within a few years, has been 

 grown in the south half of the State in 

 sufficient quantity for domestic use, in furn- 

 ishing the warp of the '' linsey " that formed 

 the almost entire clothing of both sexes. 

 Cotton gins were not uncommon, but of a 

 cheap and rude structure. We believe that 

 cotton has never been grown as a crop for 

 export within our limits, but each family 

 providing its own supply, which was carded, 

 spun and wove by hand, the common hand 

 card, wheel and hand loom being all the im- 

 plements used. When the West was opened 

 up to the commerce of the world by the in- 

 troduction of steam on our rivers, there 

 came with it a demand, or rather market 

 for certain products which could be exchang- 

 ed for textile fabrics, spun and wove by 

 machinery driven by water power, the com- 

 petition of which soon made the culiure of 

 cotton unprofitable, or rather this new con- 

 dition of things made it more profitable to 

 grow other staples to exchange for the man- 

 ufactured products of cotton. The cotton 

 gins were allowed to decay, and the culture 

 of what had been one of the necessities of 

 the age, was discontinued, not that it failed 

 to grow, for of the certainty of the crop we 

 hear no complaints, but of the want of cot 

 ton machineery to manufacture it. 



Whether it would produce sufficiently 

 abundant to pay for the labor of its culture 

 at the present time, we have no data from 

 the past whereby to form an opinion, When 



we take into consideration that it is hardy, 

 and that with our improved implements 

 and modes of culture, we might make large 

 advances over the early settler in this iC- 

 spect, we see no raason why it may not 

 be again resumed as ^ profitable crop. To 

 say that it was thrown aside because it would 

 not pay, has nothing to do with the question 

 at the present time , for then the old Bull 

 or Bar-shire plows were in their glory — they 

 paid then, but who would think of using 

 them now ? They are thrown aside for the 

 steel clipper ; so the old wheel and the hand 

 loom have lost their music in the household, 

 and the old-time •' linsey'' is among the lost 

 arts, and now where the rivers beat against 

 the rocks as they dash onward towards the 

 ocean, the hum of fast revolving wheels and 

 the ceaseless din of flying shuttles as they 

 transform the snowy staple to long webs of 

 cloth, with a rapiditj that mocks at the slow 

 motion of the fingers of the industrious wife, 

 but repeat the story why cotton ceased to . 

 be the staple of the State, and " linsey" to 

 grace the shelves of the country store. 

 Hand labor could not compete with ma- 

 chinery, and as no attempt was made toward 

 cotton mills, the attention of the farmer was 

 turned to other products. 



Now that we have all the improved im- 

 plements to cheapen its culture, and can 

 employ the same machinery in its manufac- 

 tory, why not again place it in the line of 

 experiment, and see how far it will prove 

 profitable on the diluvial soils of the State. 

 We know that this plant delights in the 

 alluvial of our fresh water rivers, and it 

 would naturally follow that it would thrive 

 in that part of the State lying between the 

 '' Big Muddy" and Terre Haute and Alton 

 Railroad, for nearly all of that section is 

 covered with the alluvial deposit ot the 

 Missouri, the Mississippi, the Wabash, and 

 of the Illinois rivers, the latter of which 

 was, doubtless, at that time, the outlet to 

 Lake Michigan. We know that it thrives 

 well on the mountain limestone soils near 

 Jonesboro', on the conglomerate sandstone 



