done by means of presses, which are generally worked by hand, but sometimes by horse power. Where, however, large quantities are packed, hydraulic presses are used. Screw presses are also common. There is no uniformity in the size of bales, but the average American bale weighs from 450 to 460 lbs. The cotton seed is of an oily nature, yielding a vegetable drying oil. It is extensively used on cotton fields as a fertilizer, for which purpose it has valuable qualities. Recently efforts have been made to make this oil a leading article of trade. The oil was extracted from the seed by means of machinery, and for a while was used in the manufacture of soap, as a substitute for olive oil, as a lubricator, for illuminating purposes, and as a substitute for linssed oil in mixing paints. It did not prove, however, to be well adapted to these purposes, and has not come into general use. The amount of cotton-seed oil exported from the United States in 1872 was 547,165 gallons, valued at $293,546. After the seed has been ground and the oil extracted therefrom, the refuse is formed into “cotton-seed cake,” which has been found to be a very useful article of food for cattle as a substitute for linseed oil cake. Cotton-seed cake is also exported in large quantities to Great Britain, where it is used in feeding cattle.—The crop having been packed into bales, the transportation to the various markets of the world is begun. A portion of each crop is consumed at the south, the extent of which is indicated by the fact that of the total consumption of the United States in 1872-'3, amounting to 1,201,127 bales, about 137,662 bales were consumed by southern and 1,063,465 by northern mills. The greater proportion of the crop not retained in the south finds an outlet at the leading southern ports, whence it is shipped to northern and to foreign ports. The principal cotton ports of the south, with the relative extent of the commerce at each, are indicated in the following statement of exports for 1872-'3:
| SHIPPING PORTS. | To foreign ports, bales. |
To coastwise ports, bales. |
| Charleston, S. C. | 160,169 | 225,016 |
| Fernandina, St. Mark's, &c., Fla. | ....... | 14,063 |
| Galveston Tex. | 210,438 | 133,304 |
| Mobile, Ala. | 132,130 | 197,131 |
| New Orleans | 1,177,058 | 228,968 |
| North Carolina ports | 1,632 | 59,898 |
| Savannah, Ga. | 375,895 | 248,752 |
| Virginia ports | 7,722 | 424,791 |
There is also a considerable interior movement of cotton to northern mills and markets, amounting in 1873 to 402,296 bales. This transportation is chiefly by water to points on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, Cairo, St. Louis, Cincinnati, &c., whence it is transported north and east by railroad. In commerce cotton is distinguished by its color, but more especially by the length, strength, and fineness of its fibre. White usually indicates a superior quality; a yellow or a yellowish tinge, when not the effect of accidental wetting or inclement seasons, is considered as indicating greater fineness. It is desirable that cotton shall have a slight and delicate creamy tint, indicating well matured and strong staple; but otherwise the purer white the better. The commercial classification of cotton is determined—1, by cleanliness or freedom from impurities, such as dry leaf, sand, &c.; 2, by absence of color; both subject also to character of staple length, and strength and fineness of fibre. These together determine relative value. There are two general classifications, long-stapled and short-stapled. Of the former the best is the sea island cotton of the United States; but its quality differs so much that there is a wide range in its prices. The superior samples of the cotton of Brazil are also classed with the long-stapled. The cotton of the United States, with the exception of sea island, and also that of India, belong to the short-stapled variety. The relative value of the various kinds of cotton is indicated in the following quotation of prices in the Liverpool market:
| Long-staple or black-seed varieties. |
Green-seed varieties. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Probably no other staple has attained a commercial importance equal to that of cotton. Certainly no other article enters so largely into the aggregate value of the commerce of the United States and that of Great Britain. The total value of the domestic exports of the United States for the year ending June 30, 1872, as reported by the chief of the bureau of statistics, was $549,219,718, while the exports of cotton amounted to $180,684,595; and so of the total value of imports into Great Britain in 1872, amounting to £354,693,624, the value of cotton imported reached £53,380,670, being more than double that of any other article; of this amount over one half was imported from the United States. In the United States the increase in the production of cotton was steady and rapid until the civil war. Beginning with 1830, the increase amounted to about 1,000,000 bales in each decade till 1859-'60, when the production reached the amount of 4,861,292 bales, which is the largest crop ever produced in the United States, although that of 1870-71 fell short of it less than 500,000 bales. There is no record of the amount produced during the war, 1861-'5, which was necessarily very small. Since its close the production has increased from 2,269,316 bales in 1865-'6 to 4,362,317 bales in 1870-'71. There was a marked decrease in the production of 1871-'2, the crop amounting to 3,014,351 bales; but this is attributed to causes which will not permanently retard the general increase of the production. The increase in the home consumption has been still
