Pickers in Delta Field
Russian cotton, so-called, is really grown largely in Turkestan though a small amount is produced in the Southern Caucasus. The culture has been under way since very early times, but had little more than local significance until about 1875 when the Russian Government took steps to foster it, distributing American seed of the Upland variety, importing the necessary equipment, and providing instructors, frequently Americans. Railroads to handle the crop were built, and, with all this favorable assistance, progress was rapid. About one-third of the cotton used in the Russian mills up to the time of the war was grown on Russian soil, the remainder being brought largely from the United States.
The American Crop
As the World’s Basis
But the bulk of the world’s supply is the cotton grown in the United States. The price for American Upland Cotton 12 governs the price of the other varieties. The acreage devoted to the cultivation of the cotton crop in the United States is approximately 34,000,000. The increase since 1839, when census figures covering this point were first obtained, has been about seventeen fold. The 1916 acreage, of the various States, together with figures giving the value of the crop and the comparative rank, is here given:
| States | Acreage |
Gross Equivalent 500 Pound Bales Exclusive of Linters |
Approximate Percentage |
Crop Value Including Seed and Linters |
| Alabama | 1,977,000 | 517,890 | 4.6 | $86,940,000 |
| Arizona | 21,737 | 0.1 | 6,300,000 | |
| Arkansas | 2,740,000 | 973,752 | 8.6 | 164,840,000 |
| California | 57,826 | 0.5 | 9,410,000 | |
| Florida | 183,000 | 37,858 | 0.3 | 10,260,000 |
| Georgia | 5,195,000 | 1,883,911 | 16.7 | 322,600,000 |
| Louisiana | 1,454,000 | 638,729 | 5.7 | 102,260,000 |
| Mississippi | 2,788,000 | 905,554 | 8.0 | 152,270,000 |
| Missouri | 345,000 | 60,831 | 0.5 | 10,100,000 |
| North Carolina | 1,515,000 | 617,989 | 5.5 | 103,940,000 |
| Oklahoma | 2,783,000 | 959,081 | 8.5 | 150,270,000 |
| South Carolina | 2,837,000 | 1,236,871 | 10.9 | 207,220,000 |
| Tennessee | 882,000 | 240,525 | 2.1 | 40,130,000 |
| Texas | 11,092,000 | 3,125,378 | 27.7 | 495,590,000 |
| Virginia | 50,000 | 18,777 | 0.2 | 3,140,000 |
| All Other States | 5,666 | 0.1 | 970,000 | |
| Totals | 33,841,000 | 11,302,375 | 100.00 | 1,866,240,000 |
There are generally speaking, two kinds of cotton produced in the United States—Upland cotton, and Sea Island cotton. The former makes up the great bulk of the crop, the relative percentages in 1917 being 99.2 and .8.
The Constant Search
For Long Staples
A few years ago the terms short-staple and Upland were practically interchangeable, but the great demand for long staple, chiefly from the manufacturers of thread and of pneumatic tire fabrics has led to a successful attempt to grow the longer fibers in the Upland districts, so that now more than a million bales annually are being produced in the Upland districts of cotton with a staple length of 1-1/8 inches and more. The world’s total production of long staple is in the neighborhood of 2,250,000 bales. Egypt is the chief producer outside the United States, her product being approximately 1,000,000 bales of 500 pounds every year. Although the product is small, the best Sea Island produced in the United States grows upon the small islands off the coast of South Carolina. The long-staple Upland is grown chiefly in the Mississippi delta, where the product is called "Peeler," "benders," etc., though the percentage of long-staple produced elsewhere is steadily increasing. The success of certain Arizona growers in producing long-staple from Egyptian seed is being watched with great interest. More than 3,000 bales came from this source in 1916, the fiber averaging 1-1/2 inches in length. There has recently been developed there, 13 the new and important Pima variety, which is superior to the native Egyptian cotton, being both longer and whiter, and the growers are now planting Pima almost exclusively.
The following table, taken from the Encyclopedia Brittanica, gives the comparative length of staple of the more important varieties of cotton. The order in which they are given represents, roughly, their relative commercial value: