C ON CULTIVATION AND TRADE. Cotton is called, in French, Colon ; German, Bawnwoll e ; Dutch, Katoen, Boomwol ; Danish, Bomuld ; Swedish, Bomull ; Italian, Cotone Bamba gia ; Spanish, Algodon ; Portuguese, Al god,ao ; Russian, C'hlobtschataja Burnt:9a ; Polish, Bawelna ; Hindustani, MU ; Malay, Kapas ; Latin, Gossypium.
The distinctive names by which cotton is known in commerce are, with the fol lowing two exceptions, derived from the countries of their production. The finest kind, which commands the highest price, is called sea-island cotton, from the cir cumstance of its having been first culti vated in the United States of North America, in the low sandy islands on the coast, from Charlestown to Savannah. It is said that its quality is gradually de teriorated in proportion as the plants are removed from " the salutary action of the ocean's spray." The seed is supposed to have come originally from Persia. It was taken from the island of An guilla to the Bahamas for cultivation, and was first sent thence to Georgia in 1786. The annual average crop does not exceed 11,000,000 pounds. Upland or Bowed Georgia cotton, the green-seed kind, has received its name of upland to distinguish it from the produce of the islands and low districts near the shores. The expression bowed was given as being descriptive of the means employed for loosening the seed from the filaments, which was accom plished by bringing a set of strings, at tached to a bow, in contact with a heap of uncleaned cotton, and then striking the strings so as to cause violent vibrations, and thus open the locks of cotton and cause the seeds to be easily separable from the filaments.
A few years ago Mr. Woodbury, secre tary of the United States' Treasury, pre pared some tables which showed the cul tivation, manufacture, and trade in cotton throughout the world. According to these tables, which must be considered as rough estimates, though probably not far from the troth, the progress of production in the United States was as follows from 1791 to 1831 :— lbs. lbs.
1791 2,000,000 1821 180,000,000 1801 48,000,000 1831 385,000,000 1811 80,000,000 From the season 1832-33 to the season the growth of cotton estimated in bales was as under : Bales. Bales.
1832-33 1,070,438 1838-39 1,360,532 1833-34 1,205,394 1839-40 2,177,835 1834-35 1,254,328 1840-41 1,634,945 1835-36 1,360,725 1841-42 1,683,574 1836-37 1,422,930 1842-43 2,379,000 1837-38 1,801,497 1843-41 2,030,000 In the ten years preceding 1845 the average annual rate of increase in the growth of cotton in the United States has been about 100,000 bales. The dis tribution of the cotton crops of the United States was as follows in 1843 and 1844 : 1844.
Bales.
Great Britain . 1,470,000 1,203,000 France . . 346,000 283,000 Other parts of Eu rope . . . . 194,000 144,000 American consump tion . . . . 326,000 346,744 The progressive average annual in crease in the consumption of American cotton in the ten years from 1835 to 1845 has been about 43,609 bales in Great Britain ; 12,448 in the United States of North America ; and 27,187 on the Con tinent of Europe and all other places. In the same period the consumption of cotton from all other countries, except North America, has increased at an annual aver age rate of 14,107 bales.
The cotton wool imported into Great Britain from Brazil, India, Egypt, &c. in 1843 and 1844 was as under :— 1893. 1844.
Bales. Bales.
Brazil 98,821 112,031 Demerara and Berbice 114 234 Egypt 47 638 66,563 East Indies . . . . 181,993 237,559 West Indies, Carthae gena, &c. . . . . 19,093 17,373 It appears from Mr. Woodburv's tables that in 1834 rather more than two-thirds (68 per cent.) of all the cotton sent away from all the places of production were shipped to England. About five-sixths of all the cotton brought into the United Kingdom is of the growth of the United States of North America. Above one ' half in value of the exports of the United States consists of cotton wool-47,090,000 out of a total of 92,000,000 dollars in the year ending 30th September, 1842, and 49,000,000 out of a total of 77,000,000 dollars in the nine months ending Jane 30th, 1843.