The Story of the Cotton Plant Part 4

All these have helped to keep down an industry which at one time bade fair to be a source of great income to the country.

Tree Cotton and Herbaceous Cotton are both cultivated in Brazil. The best kinds of Sea Islands have been tried, but have not succeeded.

Compared with the United States, the methods of cultivation pursued in Brazil are exceedingly primitive and irregular. No such thing as ploughing or preparing of the soil is adopted.

The only preparation seems to be to rid the land of cotton stumps, and this is done in a somewhat careless and indifferent manner. It would seem that as little labour as possible is expended upon the land in preparing it for the reception of seed. Hilaire's aphorism--"Nothing in this country is less expensive, or more productive, than cotton culture"--would seem, when the facts of the whole case are known, to be perfectly warranted so far as Brazil is concerned. Certainly, from a climatic point of view, this country is exceptionally well favoured, an equable and suitable temperature together with an adequate supply of earth and air, moisture and rich alluvial soils, a long dry season for picking extending over many weeks--all point to an ideal cotton-growing area. In fact, there is no reason why a crop of at least 40,000,000 bales should not be obtained annually in Brazil, if needed. At present, only about one three-hundredth part of this is grown. The cotton-growing centres are Minas Geraes, Bahia, Fernando de Noronha, Rio Janeiro, Sao Paulo.

=Cotton Cultivation in Mexico.=--The cultivation of cotton has for many centuries been carried on in Mexico. Much the same drawbacks exist here as in Brazil, viz., lack of labour, poor railway system, high rates for transmission, and indifferent methods employed in cultivating.

Mexico enjoys a splendid geographical position and would prove, if the business-like habits and methods obtained as in case of the States, one of the most serious compet.i.tors of its adjacent Northern neighbour.

The best cotton is produced in the State of Guerrero on the Eastern side, though the greater part--about one half--of the Mexican crop is grown in Laguna district, which lies in the Coahuila country. There are three distinct areas of production in Mexico, viz., along the Eastern coast, along the Western coast, and on the Central tableland. In the Western area irrigation is resorted to.

In the year 1898, 100,000,000 pounds of cotton were grown, though all or nearly all of it was used at home. Within the last twenty years many mills have been erected in this country, and this will account for the large quant.i.ty of cotton consumed at home. The poorest Mexican cotton is produced in Chiapas. Acapulco, near the mouth of the Grande del Norte River, is the chief Mexican cotton port on the Eastern coast.

=Cotton-growing in Peru.=--It would be a difficult matter to fix a time when cotton was first grown in Peru. Pizarro, who conquered this country early in the sixteenth century, found that the natives were fully engaged in the growing and spinning of cotton. Dr. Dabney, a.s.sistant Secretary of the U.S.A. Agricultural Department, states that he has seen a cloth made of cotton recently taken from one of the Peruvian mummies which must be many, many centuries old. There is not the slightest doubt that the Cotton plant is indigenous to Peru.

Thirty-five years ago Liverpool received no less than 300,000 pounds weight of cotton from Peru, and three years later over 4,000,000 pounds.

During the last decade of the century it exceeded 6,000,000 pounds to England alone. Two kinds of Peruvian cotton are grown--smooth and rough.

This latter is a rough, strong fibre, and is exceptionally well adapted for mixing with wool in the manufacture of hosiery, and a greater part of this cotton coming in England is used in the hosiery trade. The plant from which it is produced is a perennial, and for six or seven years is said to give two crops a year. Owing to the peculiarly favourable climate of Peru and the suitability of the soil, it is exceedingly improbable that any strong compet.i.tor will come to divert the Peruvian trade, so that for some time yet we may look to this country supplying the hosiery trade with rough Peruvian cotton. The importations of Peruvian cotton into the United States for 1894-95 were 24,000 bales; for 1895-96, 24,603 bales; for 1896-97, 16,604 bales.

=The Cultivation of Cotton in India.=--There are other Asiatic cotton fields besides those of India, viz., China, Corea, j.a.pan, the Levant, and Russia in Asia. The term "India" will be used in a somewhat restricted sense in this section, and will cover only that huge triangular-shaped peninsula lying to the south of Thibet in Asia. It is 1800 miles in width and nearly 2000 miles in length. The total area, not including a.s.sam and Burmah, is about 1,300,000 square miles, the native states alone covering 595,000 square miles.

Out of the 28 of North Lat.i.tude through which India stretches, no less than 15-1/2 are in the tropics, the remainder being in the Temperate Zone. The climate, owing to a number of circ.u.mstances, such as different alt.i.tudes and uneven distribution of moisture, is exceedingly varied.

During the months April to September the sun, during the day or some part of it, is overhead. Consequently the heat received will be greater than over the ocean at the south, taking a similar area. A direct cause of this is the starting of winds which receive the name of monsoons.

These blow from the S.W., and bring vast quant.i.ties of moisture with them. This moisture-laden wind is partially robbed of its load as it strikes the Western Ghats and consequently much moisture is deposited here, giving rise to many valuable rivers which water the Deccan or Central Tableland of India. The Mahanuddy, G.o.davari, Kristna, and Kauvari are rivers fed by the S.W. monsoon. Then, again, the low-lying lands near the mouth of the Indus, the great desert of Rajputana, the peninsula of Gujerat and the district of Malwa--all allow, by reason of their low-lying nature, the S.W. winds to pa.s.s over them laden as they are with vast quant.i.ties of moisture. They travel on till they meet the Himalayas, where again they help to swell the volume of the waters in the rivers Ganges and Indus. When the N.E. monsoons blow they do not carry anything like the amount of moisture which the S.W. monsoons do, as their areas of collection are very much more limited. Consequently this part of the year is usually a dry one (viz., from October to March).

Thus it will be seen that the great plain of Southern India is much less watered than the more Northerly portions and consequently is much less fertile. This fact must be borne in mind as the cotton-growing areas are described and indicated.

India, which grows more cotton than any other country in the world (the States excepted), may be said to possess four distinct areas for the production of commercial cotton. They are--

1. Central Tableland or Deccan.

2. Valley of the Ganges.

3. Western India.

4. Southern India.

and the above order shows them also according to their commercial importance.

_Central District._--This is a vast plateau bounded on the north by the Vindhya mountains, on the east and west by the Ghats of those names, and on the south by the River Krishna. As is to be expected, the collecting and exporting of the cottons grown in this district are done at Bombay.

The finest cottons grown in India are produced in this region.

Four centres stand out prominently in the production of cotton, viz., Dharwar, Hyderabad, Nagpore and Berar. The soils generally in the Deccan are very rich and capable of retaining moisture during the growing term of the plant's life. What are known as the black soils of India are to be found plentifully in this district, and these are exceedingly rich in mineral matter. Nagpore should specially be named, as it is in this province that the finest cotton grown in all India is produced, viz.:--

"Hingunghat Cotton."

"Oomrawattee Cotton" is the name given to a special kind which is produced in the province of Berar. It is sometimes called "Oomras." This district lies in the "Nizam's Dominions" and is watered by several tributaries of the Tapti and G.o.divari. It possesses a soil which for richness and fertility has no equal in India.

With the exception of Bengal, this district is more plentifully supplied with rivers than any other part of India.

Image: FIG. 5.--An Indian cotton field.

The Dharwar district is noted for its cottons, for two or three reasons.

It was in this region that in 1842 New Orleans cotton was planted with a view to its ultimately being cultivated here. As the climate and soil are very similar to some of the districts in the Mississippi valley, it succeeded beyond antic.i.p.ation. Dharwar lies S. W. of the province of Hyderabad near the sea, and almost touches 15 N. Lat.i.tude.

_The Valley of the Ganges District_ cannot be said to grow very good cotton, though it was in this region, at Dacca, that in former days the cotton which was afterward made into the celebrated Dacca muslin was grown.

By far the greater part of the fibre produced in this district comes from two centres: (1) Bundelkhand, which lies 79 E. Long., and 25 N.

Lat.i.tude (this is very near to Allahabad), and (2) Doab. As was pointed out in describing the monsoons, these two centres suffer by reason of droughts, owing mainly to their geographical position. They are subject also to severe floods, which are certainly against successful cultivation of cotton. The entire crop of the North West Provinces may be said to come from the districts of Doab and Bundelkhand.

_Western India District._--The three centres for the production of cotton in the west, may be said to be Peninsula of Guzerat, the Island of Cutch and the Delta district of the Indus named Sind. The whole of these provinces lies in what may be called a dry area, missing, as was shown, much of the S. W. monsoon, which ultimately finds its way across country to the Himalayas. Consequently there will be little rainfall in this area, Sind and Cutch not more than 10 inches, some parts of Guzerat having much more.

This has a very serious effect upon the quality of the cotton produced.

The Surat, Broach and Sind Cottons, all poor types, are all grown in this part of India.

_Southern India District._--This lies in the southern part of the Residency of Madras, and east of the province of Travancore. The Nilgiris and Shevaroy Hills are found here, as are also the Cauvery and Vaigai Rivers. The cotton districts best known are Coimbatore and Tinnevelley, both of which are admirably situated and well watered. The Calicut of fame which gave rise to the name Calico is also in this district. Tinnevelley lies almost at the extreme south of India on the Gulf of Manaar opposite to Island of Ceylon. Its cotton is well known, but is of a poor type. As far back as 1847, experiments carried out under the superintendence of Dr. Wright proved that this district was very suitable for the cultivation of American cotton. A fact interesting as well as instructive is given by him to the effect that in the southern part of India the crops universally failed where grown from the native seed, while those grown from American seed realised very fair amounts--better even than were obtained when good crops were got after using Indian seed.

The methods of preparing, planting, and cultivating the Indian Plants are exceedingly antiquated. In but few districts are anything like modern methods practised. Advantage however is taken of the period just preceding the rain monsoon and this differs a little according to the district. Thus in Bengal, Berar, and Broach, May and June are usually taken for scantily preparing the land, and in Madras and Dharwar, August and September. This consists of turning over the soil and burying the old Cotton plants of the previous season which have been allowed to rot. As no fertilisers are used, these roots and branches at best make a very poor subst.i.tute. Ploughing, hoeing and other agricultural operations are of the rudest types and oxen are used for almost everything in the way of heavy labour. Farm implements, gearing carts, etc., are all of a style and differ very little from those used centuries ago. The seeds are sown broadcast, and almost everything is done by hand.

The plantations as a rule are much smaller than those in America, running from 5 to 30 acres. On the larger plantations the cotton is cultivated mainly by paid labourers.

The following table, by Shepperson, shows the acreage devoted to cotton of the different states in India:--

Bombay and Sind 5,021,000 acres.

Punjaub 1,177,000 "

N. W. Provinces 1,424,000 "

Bengal 153,000 "

Rajputana 549,000 "

Central India 503,000 "

Berar 2,307,000 "

Central Provinces 616,000 "

Hyderabad (Nizam's) 2,308,000 "

Madras 1,655,000 "

Mysore } a.s.sam } 230,000 "

Burmah (Lower)} Burmah (Upper)} Ajmere and Meywara 40,000 "

---------- 15,983,000 "