180 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



soil of great excellence and richness, and of a consistency to retain moisture for a 

 long time. Nearly all the cotton for export is raised within this region and finds its 

 market at Bombay. India, next to the United States, has been the largest producer 

 of cotton. (7.'. B. Handy.) During the period of civil war in the United States 

 extraordinary efforts were made to extend cultivation, but with so little success that 

 American cotton attained the extreme price of $1 per pound, which fell rapidly as the 

 breadth of cultivation was restored. It is not equal to our cotton in length or qual- 

 ity of staple, and always sells at a lower price. Seed from the United States has been 

 used repeatedly, but deterioration from climatic influences prevents retaining per- 

 manently the standard of quality. The crop of 1895-96 is reported at 3,296,040 bales. 

 In the previous year it was 2,088,546, and the average for five years has been about 

 3,000,000 bales, averaging about 400 pounds, or equivalent to 2,400,000 bales of our 

 cotton. It is therefore between a third a nd a fourth of the quantity of our crop. 



The Russian cotton is grown in Asiatic territory, in Turkestan and Transcaucasia. 

 In 1890, 245,000 acres of cotton were planted in Turkestan, yielding more than 45,000,- 

 000 pounds of clean lint. American seed and American gins have been introduced 

 into the country, the variety of cotton known as Ozier silk being highly regarded. 



Turkish cottons are A'ery low grade. The country around Smyrna produces the 

 best, however. Other districts Avhere grown, and which give name to the market 

 varieties, are: Cassaba, Aidin, Denizili, Kirgagatch, and Danider. The Adana cot- 

 ton comes from Tarsus. Cotton has been grown in Syria for ages, and a considerable 

 quantity is produced about Erivan and the frontier of Persia. 



Chinese cotton is largely produced in a region lying along and on both sides of the 

 river Yang-tze-Kiang, where the soil is very fertile. In Korea it is grown chiefly in 

 the provinces of Whang-Hai, Chul-La, and Kyng-Tanj, though to some extent in 

 other localities. China and Korea, as far as can be estimated, produce at the present 

 time 640,000,000 pounds of cotton. The production of Japan amounted in 1891 to 

 109,879,383 pounds, and the quality of the cotton was good, though the staple was 

 short. In the East Indies, Java, Siam, etc., the plant is cultivated and there is a 

 small export. 



Africa. — Of African cottons the Egyptian is the most prominent. It has been 

 grown on lands irrigated by the Nile since 1820, and in the upper regions of that 

 river from time immemorial. There are several varieties, most of them yielding 

 fiber of a brownish tint, 1 to 1^ inches long, strong and fine, more lustrous than our 

 upland and commanding a higher price, but not so long or fine or valuable as the 

 sea-island. Ellison (the Liverpool authority) gives 680,C00 bales as the export to 

 Europe and America during the last year, with a surplus still available of 33,000, 

 or a total supply of 713,000 bales, equivalent to more than 1,000,000 bales of United 

 States cotton. Nearly all of the Egyptian product is exported. A large increase in 

 production has been made in the past six years, the average exports of the period 

 being more than 50 per cent in excess of those of the preceding ten years. 



In other portions of Africa, both on the east and west coasts, as Senegambia. Libe- 

 ria, the Congo States, the Soudan, etc., a considerable amount of this staple is pro- 

 duced, the greater part of which is consumed a*t home. 



In Australia cotton culture has been attempted, and while a little fiber is grown 

 it can hardly be called a promising industry. Very small quantities are also pro- 

 duced in many of the islands of the Pacific, and in some of them the product shows 

 a good staple. The Fiji and Tahiti cottons are exported. 



Cottox industry OF the Exited States. 1 — Soon after the invention of Eli Whit- 

 ney's saw gin in 1793 the United States became the principal source of cotton supply 

 for the mills of the world, at a period when spinning machinery was a recent inven- 

 tion and the modern factory system was in its infancy. In 1860, four-fifths of the 

 consumption in Europe and America was of the cotton of this country. Production 

 was nearly suspended during the years of civil Avar following, but in a year or two 



1 Contributed by J. R. Dodge. 



