Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/517

COTTON 485 with the control of the viceroy s cotton plantations, which became immensely profitable under his direction. The new description of Egyptian cotton has since been known by the name "Jumel" in France, and "Maho," or "Mako," in England. Its cultivation has rapidly extended throughout Lower Egypt, the soil as well as the climate being found to be specially favourable. The scantiness of the population, nnd the difficulty of providing adequate supplies of food, seem the only causes likely to curtail the production of cotton. The thickly populated inverted alluvial delta of the Soudan, between the Blue and the White Nile, is saidto be even more favourable to the growth of cotton than the lower parts of the valley, and to afford room for the plantation of ten times the area obtainable in Egypt proper. It is not, perhaps, too much to say that Egypt is the finest cotton-growing country in the world ; it is not surpassed in productiveness even by the Southern States of America. So firmly is the growth of cotton established, and so fully are both the Government and the people alive to its importance and advantages, that there is no reason to apprehend that it will be allowed to decline, or that Egypt will ever lose its position as a source of supply. It will be seen from the table of imports on page 486 that the Egyptian supply, which in 1859-60 was only about 100,000 bales, has since become nearly 300,000. The bales, too, have been increasing in size, and now contain six can tars, or about 600 Ib each. 1 The growth of cotton in Turkey, as elsewhere, was greatly stimulated and increased during the time of scarcity, but it has since declined largely on account of the feebleness of the Government and the corruption of its agents, and the expectations once entertained have not been fulfilled. The country possesses, however, splendid cotton- growing capabilities, and might be made a very prolific source of supply. Much of the cotton produced is taken by Continental manufacturers. From Brazil cotton of excellent quality has long been obtained, and in various provinces of that vast empire its cultivation has for many years been a favourite and profitable branch of agriculture. The plant thrives in all the varied climates from Para in the north down to Rio Grande in the south, and requires scarcely any care to guard it either from sun or frost. Owing to the demands occasioned by the cotton famine, cotton was for the first time grown for export in the province of Sao Paulo ; and the experiments commenced in 1861, with some New Orleans seed sent out from England by the Cotton Supply Association, and freely distributed, became the means of procuring from this one province a quantity as large as had been received from the whole of Brazil in any year previous to the American civil war. This cotton, known as " Santos " in the market, has been steadily growing in favour with the manufacturer. The rank which Brazil holds amongst the countries from which cotton is imported may be ascertained by reference to the table already mentioned. From several other sources, such as Italy, the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, and other parts of Africa, Queensland, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, &c., smaller supplies of cotton are obtained, but they are all of minor importance. These and all others, whether large or small, dwindle into insignificance when compared with America, which is par excellence the great cotton-producing country of the world. About the year 1770 2 the planters in the Southern 1 The discovery of a new variety of cotton plant said to be much more prolific than any previously known in Egypt, has just been reported from that country. ^ 9 It is related that in the year 1764 William Hathbone, an extensive American merchant in Liverpool, received from one of his correspondents in the Southern States a consignment of eight bags of cotton, which on its arrival in Liverpool was seized by the custom-house officers, on the allegation that it could not have been grown in the United States, and that it was liable to seizure under the Shipping Acts, as no*; heir States of the American Union began to turn their atten tion to the production of cotton ; and besides carrying tha cultivation to a great extent, they introduced qualities before unknown. The supplies continued to be small up to the end of the century. In 1792 the quantity exported from the United States was only 138,324 ft, but by tho year 1800 it had increased to nearly 18,000,000 Ib. At the close of the war in 1815 the revival of trade led to an increased demand, and the progress of cotton cultivation in America became rapid and continuous, until at length, about 85 per cent, of the raw material used by English manufacturers was derived from this one source. With a capacity for the production of cotton almost boundless, tha crop which was so insignificant when the century began had in 1860 reached the enormous extent of 4,824,000 bales. This great source of supply, when apparently most abundant and secure, was shortly after suddenly cut off, and thousands were for a time deprived of employment and the means of subsistence. In this period of destitution the cotton-growing resources of every part of tho globe were tested to the utmost ; a :d in the exhibition of 1862 the representatives of every country from which supplies might be expected met to concert measures for obtaining all that was wanted without the aid of America. The colonies and dependencies of Great Britain, including India, seemed well able to grow all the cotton that could be required, whilst numerous other countries were ready to afford their co-operation. A powerful stimulus was thua given to the growth of cotton in all directions ; a degree of activity and enterprise never witnessed before was seen in India s Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Africa, the West Indies, Queensland, New South Wales, Peru, Brazil, and in short wherever cotton could be produced ; and there seemed no room to doubt that in a short time there would be abundant supplies independently of America. But ten years afterwards, in the exhibition of 1872, which was specially devoted to cotton, a few only of the thirty-five countries which had sent their samples in 1862 again appeared, and these for the most part only to bear witness to disappointment and failure. America had re-entered the field of competition, and was rapidly gaining ground so as to be able to bid defiance to the world. True, the supply from India had been more than doubled, the adulteration once so rife had been checked, and the improved quality and value of the cotton had been fully acknowledged, but still the superiority of the produce of the United States was proved beyond all dispute, and American cotton was again king. Slave labour has disappeared, and under new and more promising auspices a fresh career of progress has been commenced. With a rare combination of facilities and advantages, made available with remarkable skill and enterprise, the production of cotton in America seems likely for a long series of years to continue to increase in magnitude and importance. Table I. (page 486) shows the quantity of the raw material annually furnished to English manufacturers dur ing the past three-quarters of a century by the chief sources of supply. The table also contains a statement of the exports, the annual consumption, the average prices, and the stocks at the end of each year, as well as details of the American produce, exports, <fcc. The statement embodied in Table II. (p. 487), issued under the authority of the Liverpool Cotton Brokers As sociation, shows the total American crop (including Sea Island produce), the stock in the ports, and the total supply from 1826-27 to 1875-76. Table III. gives the appro priation of the American crops. imported in a vessel belonging to the country of its growth. When afterwards released, it lay for many months unsold, in consequence ot

the spinners doubting whether it could be profitably worked up.