2---THE STORY OF KING COTTON

SAMPLING THE COTTON.

COTTON has been for many years the leading money crop in the agriculture of South Carolina, and this State ranks fifth in acreage and in the number of bales produced. The cotton grown in this State is as good as any grown in the cotton belt; its staple is as good and it often grades higher on the market. This applies to upland or short staple cotton. In the case of Sea Island. cotton the South Carolina long staple so far outranks all other long staple cottons that comparisons are unnecessary. As this is written, a South Carolina planter of Sea Island cotton has sold his entire production of long staple cotton for a period of five years to come at 80 cents a pound-a price that makes it almost worth an equal quantity of silk.

At this time South Carolina's cotton crop considerably exceeds fifty millions of dollars in value. The effort is herewith made to present carefully prepared and strictly accurate statistics in regard to everything relating to cotton.

The estimated value of the South's cotton crop of 1906 is $721,647,237, compared with $632,298,332 for 1905. The value of the crops for the five-year period ending with 1906 is $3,168,423,569, compared with $1,529,502,325 for the five-year period ending with 1899. The average value of a 500-pound bale of upland cotton for the later period is $50.05, excluding the value of the seed, compared with $31.75 for the other period, an increase of $18.30 per bale.

The average prices of upland cotton have ranged from 8.20 cents to 12.16 cents in five years. Sea Island cotton in 1906 grown in South Carolina sold at an average of 36.70 cents per pound, while that grown in Georgia and Florida averaged 28.65 cents.

The increase in acreage in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama since 1879 has been 45.6 per cent., while the increase in production has been 96.8 per cent.

History of Cotton.-"Cotton is mentioned in the records of the colony," says Hammond, "as early as 1664, and in 1747 seven bags appear on the list of exports from Charleston. In 1787 Samuel Maverick and one Jeffrey shipped three bags of one hundred pounds each of seed cotton from Charleston to England as an experiment, and were informed for their pains by the consignee that it was not worth producing, as it could not be separated from the seed. In 1790 a manufactory of cotton homespuns was established by some Irish in Williamsburg County, the lint used being picked from the seed by hand. A task of four pounds of lint per week being required of the field laborers in addition to their ordinary work. All this speedily changed with the invention of the saw gin by Eli Whitney in 1794. The first gin (patented by Ogden Holmes), moved by water power, was erected on Mill Creek, near Monticello, in Fairfield, by Capt. James Kincaid, in 1795. General Wade Hampton erected another near Columbia in 1797, and the following year gathered from six hundred acres six hundred bales of cotton, and cotton planting became soon after

the leading industry in nearly every county in the State. The crop steadily increased in size until 1860, when the three hundred and fifty thousand bales produced in the State were worth something over fourteen millions of dollars. From this date to 1870 there was a great decline, the crop of that year being more than one-third less than the crop of ten years previous, and reaching only two hundred and twenty-four thousand five hundred bales."

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Cotton is mentioned by McCrady as being obtained from the West Indies in 1724 in exchange for lumber, etc. He says, further, that cotton had been exported from South Carolina before the end of the seventeenth century. Just after 1737 Elizabeth Lucas tried cotton culture, but "met with little success. The Crop of Today. It is needless to trace the growing of cotton through the several stages of development of the industry. It is today South Carolina's chief "money crop," and facts about it are desired. It is difficult, even under the favorable conditions existing in this State, to produce cotton at much

COTTON FARMER'S HOME

less than 5 cents per pound, but the cost of production necessarily varies very materially. South Carolina's cotton crop for the past six years has reached proportions that now make the average crop in this State a crop of 956,672 bales, worth $42,579,831, and her manufacturing development has grown to such an extent that the cotton mill plants are consuming a total of 761,410 bales, giving an

nual production worth $51,341,689, thus more closely bringing together the cotton manufacturer and the cotton grower of the State.

The largest crop ever produced by the State was in 1904, when it reached 1,192,925 bales, as will be seen from the tables herewith.

The Culture of Cotton.-In order that those not thoroughly familiar with the culture of cotton may be possessed of needful information, the following is given:

COTTON CULTURE.

Dates to Commence Preparations and to Begin and Finish Planting, Picking, Etc.