[Ill.u.s.tration: PRODUCTION OF COTTON]
Cotton is now our chief vegetable fiber, the yearly crop being over six billion pounds, of which the United States raises three-fourths. Texas is the largest producer, followed by Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
The remainder of the world supply comes chiefly from India, Egypt, Russia, and Brazil. The Hindoos were the first ancient people to make extensive use of the cotton fiber. Not until the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1794 did the cotton begin to reach its present importance. Only four or five pounds of the fiber could be separated by hand from the seed by a week"s labor. The modern saw gins turn out over five thousand pounds daily.
[Sidenote: Native Home]
Cotton is the white downy covering of the seed of several special of cotton of cotton plant. It is a native of many parts of the world, being found by Columbus growing in the West Indies and on the main land, by Cortez in Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru.
[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTON FIBER ATTACHED TO SEED]
[Sidenote: Sea Island Cotton]
The value of cotton depends upon the strength, and evenness of the fiber. In ordinary cotton the individual fiber is about an inch in length. The sea island cotton grown chiefly on the islands off the coast of Georgia, Carolina, and Florida is the most valuable variety, having a fine fiber, one and one-half to two inches in length. Some of the Egyptian cotton belongs to this species. Sea island cotton is used chiefly for fine laces, thread and knit goods and for the finest lawns and muslins.
[Sidenote: Upland Cotton]
The short fiber or upland cotton is the most common and useful variety.
It is grown in Georgia, North and South Carolina and Alabama. Texas cotton is similar to upland, but sometimes is harsh with shorter fiber.
Gulf cotton occupies a position between upland and sea island cotton.
[Ill.u.s.tration: UPLAND COTTON PLANT WITH FULLY DEVELOPED BOLES
From Bulletin No. 31, Georgia Experiment Station.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTON BOLE FULLY DEVELOPED
From Year Book of the Department of Agriculture, 1903.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: BOLE OPENED, COTTON READY FOR PICKING
Year Book of 1903.]
The Brazilian and Peruvian cotton yields a long staple and is sometimes used to adulterate silk and other fibers. Some varieties of this cotton are harsh and wooly and are prized for use in mixing with wool.
[Sidenote: Nankin Cotton]
The Nankin cotton grown in China and India and in the southwestern part of Louisiana is characterized by its yellow color. It is used in weaving cloth of various kinds in the "fireside industries" which have become popular in the United States and England.
[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTON FIBERS
_A A_--Unripe Fibers; _B B_--Half-ripe Fibers; _C C_--Ripe Fibers.]
[Sidenote: Spinning Qualities]
Very fine yarn can be spun from cotton because of the spiral character of the fibers. This twist of the fibers is peculiar to cotton, being present in no other animal or vegetable fiber. On account of this twist, cotton cloths are much more elastic in character than those woven from linen, the fibers of which are stiff and straight.
After the removal of the seed, no other fiber is so free from impurities--5 per cent is the loss sustained by cleaning and bleaching.
In its natural condition, cotton will not dye readily because of a waxy substance on the surface of the fibers. This must be removed by washing.
[Sidenote: Picking and Ginning]
Cotton should be picked only when it is fully ripe when the pods are fully burst and the fibers expanded. The unripe fiber is gla.s.sy, does not attain its full strength and resists the dye. After picking, the cotton is sent to the ginning factory to have the seed removed. It is then pressed into bales by hydraulic presses, five hundred pounds being the standard bale in the United States.
[Ill.u.s.tration: COTTON BALES]
[Sidenote: Physical Characteristics]
Purified bleached cotton is nearly pure cellulose. It resists the action of alkalis well, but is harmed by hot, strong acids, or if acid is allowed to dry on the fabric. It is not harmed by high temperature, and so may be ironed with a hot iron.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOL FIBER AND SUBSt.i.tUTES
1. South American Wool; 2. Noil from the Same; 3. Tangled Waste; 4.
Waste Combed Out; 5. Lap Waste; 6. Shoddy.]
WOOL
[Sidenote: Character of Fiber]
Wool is the most important animal fiber. Strictly speaking the name applies only to the hairy covering of sheep, but the hair of certain goats and of camels is generally cla.s.sified under the same terms. The wool fiber is distinguished by its scale-like surface which gives it its felting and spinning properties. Hair as distinguished from wool has little or no scaly structure being in general a smooth filament with no felting properties and spinning only with great difficulty. Fur is the undergrowth found on most fur-bearing animals and has in a modified way the scaly structure and felting properties of wool.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MICROSCOPIC APPEARANCE OF WOOL FIBERS]
[Sidenote: Value for Clothing]
The great value of wool as a fiber lies in the fact that it is strong, elastic, soft, very susceptible to dye stuffs and being woven, furnishes a great number of air s.p.a.ces, rendering clothing made from it very warm and light.
[Sidenote: Quality of Wool]
Climate, breed, and food influence the quality of the wool. Where the pasturage is barren and rocky, the wool is apt to be coa.r.s.e.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MERINO RAMS
The Variety of Sheep Giving the Finest Wool.]