DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 181 



after its close the proportion of the supply again exceeded one-half, "became two- 

 thirds in five years, and by 1880 nearly regained the ante war proportion. 



The only reason for this prominence which needs to be adduced is the advantage 

 of climate in the production of the distinctive type of cotton of the United States, 

 the varieties of green-seed upland. Our cotton belt has the sunshine of Italy and a 

 rainfall largely in excess of the national average; and cotton is a sun plant, fond of 

 water, with a taproot to get it by piercing tbe friable and finely comminuted soil so 

 characteristic of its areas of densest distribution. Hence any cotton suited to preva- 

 lent climatic conditions naturally improves under cultivation. Unlike Egypt and 

 India, this fertile belt needs no irrigation. This climatic adaptation and soil suita- 

 bility give a practical monopoly which cheap labor elsewhere may never hope to 

 overcome; at least, not until some now unexplored and untested part of the earth's 

 surface shall be discovered and exploited in successful cotton culture. 



The enlargement of production has been phenomenally rapid. In the last decade 

 of the eighteenth century it advanced from less than 10,000 bales to more than 

 150,000; in tbe first decade of the present century it had reached 300,000, and in the 

 second 600,000, while in a third the record of 1,000,000 was one year made, and at the 

 end of the fourth the 2,000,000 mark was passed. At this point Southern publicists 

 discovered that planters had been guilty of "overstocking the market," when the 

 annual Liverpool average price of middling for 1845 was reduced to 3.92d. per pound, 

 the lowest yearly record ever made before, or ever made since until the great crop of 

 nearly 10,000,000 bales in 1891 reduced the average to 3.34d. The mid-century reduc- 

 tion, like the recent fall, was the result of production quite beyond consumption, 

 four of six successive crops having exceeded 2,000,000 bales, an increase of 50 per cent 

 over the preceding period of six years. Thus 2,000,000 bales per annum caused 

 plethora, while 8,000,000 does not now meet the requirements of consumption. 



This fact suggests the remarkable increase in mill consumption in half a century, 

 in Europe and the United States, from less than 3,000,000 bales to more than 10,000,- 

 000. It is also suggestive of possibility of further enlargement, as facilities for 

 transportation and intercommunication bring cheap clothing within the reach of 

 unclothed millions of populations developing under the influences of modern civili- 

 zation. This is a hopeful indication for the future of cotton growing. But produc- 

 tion must not materially exceed consumption, or instant fall in price will sound a 

 note of warning against deliberate self-destruction. As a striking example of quick 

 response of price to diminished supply, in 1895 a crop reduction of one-fourth advanced 

 the export price 40 per cent, or from 5.8 to 8.2 cents. 



A complete census of the area cultivated was never taken until 1879, when it 

 amounted to 14,175,270 acres. In 1889 it had reached 20,175,270. In 1894 its largest 

 breadth was attained, nearly 24,000,000 acres, which so reduced the price that a con- 

 certed and heavy reduction was made. The extension of cultivation was continuous 

 up to 1860, when the breadth must have been nearly 12,000,000 acres. It was at least 

 ten years after the close of the war and resumption of cultivation that the area of 

 1860 was restored. Increase in twenty years past has been very rapid. 



Two-thirds of the product is exported; formerly a somewhat larger proportion. 

 Increase of manufacture in the United States has more than kept pace with the 

 active progress of production. The exports of the last two fiscal years were 11,625,123 

 bales, or 68 per cent of the crop movement of two years of 17,055,239 bales, though 

 fiscal and crop years are not quite coincident in time. The largest exports ever 

 made were in the year ended June 30, 1895, which were 6,965,358 bales, of which 

 3,502,067 went to Great Britain, 1,500,362 to Germany, 778,778 to France, 985,558 to 

 other European countries, 105,040 to British America, 72,177 to Mexico, 280 to South 

 America, 21,084 to Asia and Oceanica, and 12 to other countries. 



The present relation of our cotton to the factory supply of Europe and America is 

 shown by Ellison's computations, which for the present year require 8,853,000 bales 

 of our crop of 476 net pounds, 830,000 of East Indian of 400 pounds, 713,000 of 

 Egyptian at 741 pounds for British and 714 for Continental receipts, and 330,000 



