(a) The cotton plant and cotton fibre.
(b) Different varieties of cotton.
(c) History of cotton, outside America, before 1800.
(d) History of cotton in America before 1800.
[Encyclopedias; commercial geographies; Hammond, pp. 3-33, references in bibliography.]
4. Invention of the cotton gin by Whitney, [Hammond; Amer. Hist. Review, Oct., 1897, 3: 90-127.]
5. What changes have been made in the cotton gin since its invention? [Encyclopedia.]
6. How long do you think the world would have had to wait for an efficient gin if Whitney had not supplied the need?
7. Importance of cotton in southern agriculture before the Civil War. [Hammond, 67-119; J. A. B. Scherer, Cotton as a World power, N. Y., 1916.]
8. What other wares have held the position of “king” in the commercial countries. In what period and in what country were the following wares especially important among the exports: tin, silk, wool, spices, silver?