182 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WOBLD. 



miscellaneous, in all. 10.726.000, or 10.355,000 reduced to bales of 500 net pounds! 

 Our proportion is, therefore, 81.5 per cent of the whole. Including India, China, 

 Japan, Mexico, and minor consumption elsewhere, it is not so easy to determine 

 closely our proportion of the cotton annually used in the world, as there are no very 

 accurate statistics of consumption in China and some other countries, hut according 

 to accepted estimates it usually ranges from 55 to 60 per cent of it. 



Our cotton is of two types. The sea-island, or black-seed, cotton, confined to 

 islands and shores of South Carolina and Georgia, to Florida, and t6 an extremely 

 limited distribution along the Gulf coast, rarely produces more than 60,000 bales. 

 It has the longest and finest staple and commands the highest price of any commer- 

 cial cotton. More than 99 per cent of our crop, however, is known as American 

 upland, having a green seed to which the filaments closely adhere, with a longer 

 staple and better quality than the East Indian and most other growths, varying 

 somewhat by selection and soil cultivation. It is only surpassed in length of staple 

 and x>rice Ly the Egyptian, which, in these respects, comes between the American 

 upland and sea island. It is imported and used by our manufacturers for specific 

 styles of goods, in increasing quantities; in the fiscal year 1896 a total of 43,609,625 

 pounds, valued at $5,131,967. If Egyptian would thrive here, a limited production. 

 would be desirable, but its attempted culture has not hitherto been attended with 

 very gratifying success. 



Cotton is grown in several countries of North and South America. Asia, and Africa, 

 and the produce of each has its peculiar characteristics and uses, yet this country, 

 with only one-twentieth of the world's population, produces of a superior quality 

 of cotton more than all other countries together. This could not be the case, in this 

 era of sharj) competition by cotton manufacturing countries of great wealth and 

 enterprise, were not our advantages for production superior to those of any other 

 country. It is obviously, then, our opportunity and duty to sapply liberally the 

 needs of the world's cousumption, without impairment of the legitimate profits of 

 our cotton growers by unnecessary overproduction. 



Cultivation. — Climatic conditions generally favorable to the production of cotton 

 are found south of a line which crosses the country a little below latitude 37- . North 

 of this line the short season and relatively low mean temperature are unfavorable; 

 also the mountain region, altitudes above 1,000 feet, south of this line. 



The essential features of a climate adapted to this culture are that the season must 

 be sufficiently long for the crop to mature. One of the most important factors is the 

 probable date of the last hilling frost in the spring and the earliest frost in the 

 autumn, for the first killing frost of autumn checks the active growth of the plant 

 and the bolls starting at this time will not develop into mature fruit. The next 

 important consideration is the amount and distribution of heat and rainfall. By the 

 first or middle of August the plant should have attained its full Aegetative growth, 

 and from this time on a decreasing temperature between day and night are favorable 

 to the production of a maximum crop, by checking vegetative growth and inducing 

 the maturity of the bolls. During the earlier period the rain should fall in frequent 

 showers rather than in heavy storms, and the best seasons are when these showers 

 occur at night, giving, with a large and well-distributed rainfall, a large amount of 

 sunshine. As to the soil selection, cotton is at present' cultivated with more or le>s 

 success on nearly all kinds of soils within the region in which the climatic condi- 

 tions are favorable to its growth and development. It is grown alike on light sandy 

 soils, on loams, on heavy clay soils, and on bottom lands, but not with equal su 

 on all these different types of soil. On the sandy uplands the yield of cotton is usu- 

 ally very small; on clay uplands, especially in wet seasons, the plants attain ] 

 size, but yield a small amount of lint in proportion to the size of the plants. Tl. 

 also likely to be the case on bottom lands. The safest soils for the crop are medium 

 grades of loam. On the bottom lands in very favorable seasons the crop often pro- 

 duces a very large yield, but it is not so certain, and in dnfavorable seasons the plants 

 are liable to disease and to insect ravages. (Pro/. Milton Whitney.) 



