The Story of the Cotton Plant
by Frederick Wilkinson · English · Gutenberg #29586 · 277,058 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Story of the Cotton Plant
Author: Frederick Wilkinson
Release date: August 3, 2009 [eBook #29586]
Language: English
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THE
LIBRARY OF USEFUL STORIES
Image: A COTTON FIELD IN TEXAS
THE STORY OF THE
COTTON PLANT
BY
FREDERICK WILKINSON, F. G. S.
DIRECTOR OF THE TEXTILE AND ENGINEERING SCHOOL, BOLTON
AND CO-AUTHOR OF ELEMENTS OF COTTON SPINNING
_WITH THIRTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS_
NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1898, 1902,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Printed in the United States of America
PREFACE.
In collecting the facts which will be found in this Story of the Cotton
plant, the author has of necessity had to consult many books. He is
especially indebted to Baines' "History of the Cotton Manufacture,"
French's "Life and Times of Samuel Crompton," Lee's "Vegetable Lamb of
Tartary," Report of the U. S. A. Agricultural Department on "The Cotton
Plant," and The American Cotton Company's Booklet on the Cylindrical
Bale.
Mr. Thornley, spinning master at the Technical School, Bolton, has from
time to time offered very important suggestions during the progress of
this little work. The author is also deeply indebted to the late Mr.
Woods of the Technical School, Bolton, who was good enough to photograph
most of the pictures which illustrate this book, and without which it
would have been impossible to make the story clear.
For permission to reproduce Fig. 3, the thanks of the author are due to
Messrs. Sampson Low and Co., for Fig. 4, to Messrs. Longmans, Green and
Co. For Figs. 5, 8, 9, 13, and 36, to Messrs. Dobson and Barlow, Ltd.,
Bolton. For Fig. 7, viz., the Longitudinal and Transverse
Microphotographs of Cotton Fibre, the author is much indebted to Mr.
Christie of Mark Lane, London, who generously photographed them
especially for this work. For Fig. 23, I am obliged to Mr. A. Perry,
Bolton.
FRED WILKINSON.
TEXTILE AND ENGINEERING SCHOOL,
BOLTON.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND CHIEF CULTIVATED SPECIES OF COTTON PLANT 9
II. COTTON-PLANT DISEASES AND PESTS 34
III. CULTIVATION OF THE COTTON PLANT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES 39
IV. THE MICROSCOPE AND COTTON FIBRE 64
V. PLANTATION LIFE AND EARLY CLEANING PROCESSES 72
VI. MANIPULATION OF COTTON IN OPENING, SCUTCHING, CARDING,
DRAWING, AND FLY-FRAME MACHINES 82
VII. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SPINNING, AND EARLY INVENTORS 112
VIII. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS--ARKWRIGHT AND CROMPTON 126
IX. THE MODERN SPINNING MULE 146
X. OTHER PROCESSES IN COTTON SPINNING 160
XI. DESTINATION OF THE SPUN YARN 176
INDEX 189
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE PAGE
1. A Cotton Field in Texas _Frontispiece_
2. Bobbins of Cotton Thread 10
3. The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary 13
4. Gossypium Barbadense 24
5. An Indian Cotton field 53
6. Microscope in position for drawing objects 65
7. Transverse and Longitudinal Sections of Cotton Fibre 67
8. Indian women with Roller gin 75
9. Self-acting Macarthy Cotton gin 78
10. Bales from various Cotton-growing countries 80
11. Cylindrical Rolls of Cotton 81
12. Bale Breaker or Puller 87
13. Double opener with Hopper Feed 89
14. Scutching Machine with lap at the back 92
15. Two views of the Carding Engine 95
16. Lap, Web, and Sliver of Cotton 99
17. Drawing Frame, showing eight slivers entering, and
one leaving the machine 103
18. Intermediate Frame (Bobbin and Fly Frame) 108
19. Twist put in Cotton by the hand 115
20. Jersey spinning wheel 117
21. Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny 124
22. Arkwright's Machine 130
23. "The Hall ith Wood" 136
24. Crompton's Spinning Mule 141
25. Portrait of Samuel Crompton 145
26. Mule Head showing Quadrant 148
27. Mules showing "Stretch" of Cotton yarn 150
28. Mule showing action of Faller Wires 154
29. Mule Head showing Copping Rail 159
30. Ring Spinning Frame 161
31. Combing Machine 170
32. Sliver Lap Machine 173
33. Ribbon Lap Machine 175
34. Reeling Machine 179
35. Bundling Machine 180
36. Quick Traverse Winding Frame 182
37. Ring Doubling Machine 184
38. Engine House, showing driving to various storeys 186
THE STORY OF THE COTTON PLANT.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND CHIEF CULTIVATED SPECIES OF COTTON PLANT.
In the frontispiece of this little work is a picture of a cotton field
showing the plants bearing mature pods which contain ripe fibre and
seed, and in Fig. 2 stands a number of bobbins or reels of cotton
thread, in which there is one having no less than seventeen hundred and
sixty yards of sewing cotton, or one English mile of thread, on it. As
both pictures are compared there appears to be very little in common
between them, the white fluffy feathery masses contained in the pods
shown in the one picture, standing in strange contrast to the strong,
beautifully regular and even threads wound on the bobbins pictured in
the other.
From cotton tree to cotton thread is undoubtedly a far cry, but it will
be seen further on that the connection between the two is a very real
and vital one.
Now it is the main purpose of this book to unfold the wonderful story of
the plant, and to fill in the details of the gap from tree to thread,
and to trace the many changes through which the beautiful downy cotton
wool passes before it arrives in the prim looking state of thread ready
alike for the sewing machine or the needle of a seamstress.
Image: FIG. 2.--Bobbins of cotton thread.
Remembering that the great majority of the readers of this little book
must of necessity be quite unaccustomed to trade terms and technical
expressions, the author has endeavoured to present to his readers in
untechnical language a simple yet truthful account of the many
operations and conditions through which cotton is made to pass before
reaching the final stages.
Nature provides no lovelier sight than the newly opened capsules
containing the pure white and creamy flocculent masses of the cotton
fibre as they hang from almost every branch of the tree at the end of a
favourable season.
And how strange is the story of this plant as we look back through the
centuries and listen to the myths and fables, almost legion, which early
historians have handed down to us or imaginative travellers have
conceived. There is, however, every reason to believe that in the far
distant ages of antiquity this plant was cultivated, and yielded then,
as it does now, a fibre from which the inhabitants of those far-off
times produced material with which to clothe their bodies.
It will not be considered out of place if some of the early beliefs
which obtained among the peoples of Western Asia and Europe for many
years are related.
Like many other things the origin of the Cotton plant is shrouded in
mystery, and many writers are agreed that it originally came from the
East, but it will be seen later on that equally strong claims can be
presented from other countries in the Western Hemisphere. Many of us
have been amused at the curious ideas which people, say of a hundred
years ago, had of the Coral Polyp.
Even to-day children may be heard singing in school,
"Far adown the silent ocean
Dwells the coral _insect_ small"!
Not a few of the early naturalists believed that the Coral was a plant
and while living in the sea water it was soft, and when dead it became
hard!
We smile at this, of course, but it was not until actual investigation
on the spot, as to what the Coral was, that the truth came out.
It was then discovered to be an animal and not a plant, and that during
life its hard limy skeleton was covered by soft muscular tissue, which,
when decomposing, was readily washed away by the sea, leaving the hard
interior exposed as coral.
When the absurd beliefs are read which found credence among all classes
of the people during the middle ages, and down even to the end of the
seventeenth century, as to what the cotton boll or pod was, the reader
is inclined to rub his eyes and think surely he must be reading "Baron
Munchausen" over again, for a nearer approach to the wonderful
statements of that former-fabled traveller it would be difficult to find
than the simple crude conceptions which prevailed of the growth, habits,
and physical characteristics of the Cotton plant.
The subject of the early myths and fables of the plant in question has
been very fully treated by the late Mr. Henry Lee, F. L. S., who was for
a time at the Brighton Aquarium. His book, the "Vegetable Lamb of
Tartary," shows indefatigable research for a correct explanation of the
myth, and after a strictly impartial inquiry he comes to the conclusion
that all the various phases which these fabulous concoctions assumed,
had their beginnings in nothing more or less than the simple mature pod
of the Cotton plant.
It will not be necessary to consider here more than one or two of these
very curious beliefs about cotton. By some it was supposed that in a
country which went by the name "The Tartars of the East," there grew a
wonderful tree which yielded buds still more wonderful. These, when
ripe, were said to burst and expose to view tiny lambs whose fleeces
gave a pure white wool which the natives made into different garments.
By and by, a delightfully curious change took place, and it is found
that the fruit which was formerly said to have the little lamb within,
was now changed into a live lamb attached to the top of the plant. Mr.
Lee says: "The stem or stalk on which the lamb was suspended above the
ground, was sufficiently flexible to allow the animal to bend downward,
and browse on the herbage within its reach. When all the grass within
the length of its tether had been consumed, the stem withered and the
plant died. This plant lamb was reported to have bones, blood, and
delicate flesh, and to be a favourite food of wolves, though no other
carnivorous animal would attack it."
Image: FIG. 3.--The vegetable lamb of Tartary.
In Fig. 3 is shown Joannes Zahn's idea of what this wonderful "Barometz
or Tartarian lamb" was like. Now, mainly through an imaginative
Englishman named Sir John Mandeville, who lived in the reign of Edward
III., did this latter form of the story find its way into England.
This illustrious traveller left his native country in 1322, and for over
thirty years traversed the principal countries of Europe and Asia. When
he came home he commenced to write a history of his remarkable travels.
In these are found references to the Cotton plant, and so curious an
account does he give of it, that it has been considered worth
reproduction in his own words: "And there growethe a maner of Fruyt, as
though it weren Gourdes: and whan ther been rype men kutten hem ato, and
men fynden with inne a lyttle Best, in Flesche, in Bon and Blode, as
though it were a lytylle Lomb with outen Wolle. And men eten both the
Frut and the Best; and that is a great Marveylle. Of that Frute I have
eaten; alle thoughe it were wondirfulle, but that I knowe well that God
is Marveyllous in his Werkes."
No wonder that many accepted his account of the "Vegetable Lamb" without
question. When a nobleman of the reputation of Sir J. Mandeville stated
that he had actually eaten of the fruit of the Cotton, was there any
need for further doubt?
It appears, however, that contemporary with Mandeville was another
traveller, an Italian Friar, named Odoricus, who also had travelled in
Asia and heard of the plant which yielded cotton. He, too, fell a prey
to the lamb theory. Many other writers and travellers followed, all more
or less believing in the plant animal theory. However, in 1641, Kircher
of Avignon in describing cotton declared it to be a plant. And so the
story for years passed through many changes. First one would assert what
he considered to be the right solution, and this was immediately
challenged by the next investigator, so that assertion and contradiction
followed each other in quick succession.
In 1725, however, a German doctor named Breyn communicated with the
Royal Society on the subject of the "Vegetable lamb," emphatically
stating the story to be nothing more or less than a fable. He very
naïvely remarked that "the work and productions of nature should be
discovered, not invented," and he threw doubts as to whether those who
had written about the mythical lamb had ever seen one.
When the writings and dissertations of Mandeville, Odoricus and others
are carefully considered, these conclusions force themselves upon us:
that direct personal observation must have played a very minor part in
the attempt to get at the truth in connection with the origin and growth
of the Cotton plant.
Their statements stand in very sharp contrast with those of writers who
lived before the Christian era commenced. Of these, mention must be made
of Herodotus, surnamed the _Father of History_.
This celebrated Greek historian and philosopher was born, B.C. 484, in
Halicarnassus in Greece. In his book of travels he speaks of the Cotton
plant. It appears, mainly owing to the tyrannical government of
Lygdamis, he left his native land and travelled in many countries in
Europe, Asia, and Africa. He appears to have at least determined, that
he would only write of those things of which he had intimate knowledge,
and would under no circumstances take for granted what he could not by
personal observation verify for himself. In speaking of India and the
Cotton plant, he says: "The wild trees in that country bear for their
fruit fleeces surpassing those of sheep in beauty and excellence, and
the natives clothe themselves in cloths made therefrom." In another
place he refers to a present which was sent by one of the kings of
Egypt, which was padded with cotton. He also describes a machine for
separating the seed from the fibre or lint. Compared with our modern
gins, as they are called, this machine was exceedingly primitive and
simple in construction.
There is not the slightest doubt that the first reliable information of
the physical characters of the fibre and its uses was conveyed into
Europe by the officers of the Emperor Alexander. One of his greatest
Admirals, named Nearchus, observed the growth of cotton in India, and
the use to which it was put, especially the making of sheets, shirts and
turbans.
Perhaps one of the most careful observers that lived before the
Christian era commenced, was Theophrastus, who wrote some strikingly
correct things about the Cotton plant of India three centuries before
Christ!
In describing the tree he said it was useful in producing cotton which
the Indians wove into garments, that it was not unlike the dog rose, and
that the leaves were somewhat like the leaves of the mulberry tree. The
cultivation of the plant was also very correctly noted as to the rows in
which the cotton seeds were placed, and as to the distances to which
these rows were set. According to Dr. Royle, however, reference is made
to cotton in the "Sacred Institutes of Manu" so frequently that the
conclusion is admitted that cotton must have been in frequent use in
India at that time, which was 800 B.C.
As was to be expected, Persia very early had cottons and calicoes
imported from India. In the sixth verse of the first chapter of Esther
definite reference is made to the use to which cotton was put at the
feasts which King Ahasuerus gave about 519 B.C. "White, green, and blue
hangings" are said to have been used on this occasion, and from
authorities who have specially investigated this subject, we are told
that the hangings mentioned were simply white and blue striped cottons.
This would also confirm the statement that dyeing is one of the oldest
industries we have.
It appears that the Greeks and Romans in good time learned to value
goods made of cotton, and soon followed the Oriental custom of erecting
awnings or coverings for protection from the sun's rays. The Emperor
Cæsar is said to have constructed a huge screen extending from his own
residence along the Sacred Way to the top of the Capitoline Hill. The
whole of the Roman Forum was also covered in by him in a similar way.
Coverings for tents, sail cloth made from cotton, and fancy coverlets
were also in use among the people of these stirring times.
And now comes the important question: Was cotton indigenous to India in
these very early times? and was it carried and afterwards planted in
Egypt, Africa, and America?
As an attempt is made to successfully answer this question, our minds
are thrown back to the time when Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, having
heard of India, desired to find a new way to that country. Comparatively
poor himself, he was unable to equip an expedition, and laid his scheme
before the Council of Genoa. They declined to have anything to do with
it, and he is found next presenting his case to the King of Portugal.
Here he alike failed, and he ultimately applied to the King and Queen of
Spain, when he met with success.
The 3rd of August, 1492, found him fully equipped with two ships, and on
his way west to find a new way to India. He first touched the Bahamas
thirty days after setting sail from Europe, and to his astonishment he
was met by the natives, who came out to meet him in canoes, bringing
with them cotton yarn and thread for the purpose of barter. In Cuba he
was surprised to find hammocks made from cotton cord in very general
use. What Columbus observed in the West Indies as to the growth and
manufacture of cotton, was found afterwards to be by no means confined
to these islands, but that in South and Central America the natives were
quite accustomed both to the growth and manufacture of cotton.
Indisputable evidence can be presented to prove that the ancient
civilisations of Mexico, Peru, and Central America, were well acquainted
with cotton. When Peru was subjugated in 1522 by Pizarro, the
manufacture of cotton was in a flourishing condition.
Similarly when Mexico fell into the hands of Cortez in 1519, he too
found that the use of cotton was very general. So delighted was he at
what he saw of the quality and beauty of their manufactured goods, that
he had no hesitation in dispatching to Europe a present consisting of
mantles, to the Emperor Charles V.
Five years after Columbus started on his momentous voyage, another
expedition under Vasco da Gama set out from the Tagus to make the voyage
to India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope.
Immediately Gama had safely reached India, there were others who quickly
desired to follow, and in 1516 another adventurous Spaniard on his way
to India called at S. Africa, and found the natives wearing garments
made of cotton.
There is therefore no reason to question the statement which has
repeatedly been made, that at least three centres are known in which the
Cotton plant from very early times has been indigenous, and that the
peoples of these countries were well acquainted with the property and
uses of the cotton wool obtained from the plant. An average of more than
1,000,000 bales, each weighing 500 lbs., are exported from Egypt every
year, and the question has been raised whether the cultivation of the
plant in Egypt can be said to date far back. This is not so. The fibre
almost exclusively used by the ancient Egyptians was flax, and the
nature of the garments covering the mummies of the ancient Egyptians has
been satisfactorily decided by the microscope. It is very probable that
the cultivation of the plant at the beginning of the thirteenth century
was carried on purely for the purpose of ornamental gardening, and even
when the seventeenth century was fairly well advanced, the Egyptians
still imported cotton.
The nineteenth century, however, has seen important developments in the
cultivation of cotton in Egypt, and now the position attained by this
country is only outdistanced by the United States and India.
=The Botany of Cotton.=--Botanists tell us that the vegetable kingdom is
primarily divided into three great classes--viz., (1) Dicotyledons; (2)
Monocotyledons; and (3) Acotyledons.
Now these names solely refer to the nature and form of the seeds
produced by the plants, and by the first it is understood that a single
seed is divisible into two seed lobes in developing. In the case of the
second, the seed is formed only of one lobe, and in the third the seed
is wanting as a cotyledon, but the method of propagation is carried on
by what are called spores. We have examples of the last-named class in
the ferns, lycopods and horsetail plants. The first two of the
above-named classes have been well called Seed plants. These are again
broken up into divisions, to which the name Natural Orders has been
given. Most of us know, as the following are examined, Anemone,
Buttercup, Marsh Marigold, Globe Flower, and Larkspur, that they have
the same general structural arrangement, but in many particulars they
differ. Thus these natural orders are again subdivided into genera, and
a still further subdivision into species is made.
The Cotton plant is put in the genus _Gossypium_, which is one falling
into the natural order _Malvacæ_, and which is one of a very large
number forming an important division of the dicotyledons where the
stamens are found to be inserted below the pistil, and where the corolla
is composed of free separate petals, and where the plant has a flower
bearing both calyx and corolla. So far as numbers are concerned, the
Malvacæ cannot be said to be important, but few genera being known to
fall into this order. Three are familiar at least--viz., the Marsh
Mallow, which was formerly used a great deal in making ointment; the
Musk Mallow, and the Tree Mallow. The most important genus in this order
is the Gossypium. This name was given to the Cotton plant by Pliny,
though the reasons for so doing are not clear. Very many species are
known to exist at the present time, and this is not to be wondered at,
when the area in which the plant is cultivated is so vast, and coupled
with the fact that the plant is susceptible to the slightest change and
"sports" most readily.
Differences of soil, climate, position with regard to the sea board, and
variations in the method of cultivation could only be expected to result
in the species being exceedingly numerous. It is not surprising,
therefore, to find that no two botanists agree as to the number of
species comprising the Gossypium family. A list, however, of the
commoner varieties found in various cotton-growing areas of the globe
will be given, but before doing so, it is deemed advisable to give a
general botanical description of the plant.
The Gossypium is either herbaceous, shrubby, or treelike, varying in
height from three to twenty feet. In some cases it is perennial; in
most, as in the cultivated species, it is an annual or biennial. A few
examples are noted for the vast number of hairs found everywhere on the
plant, and on almost every part of the plant also, there may be observed
black spots or glands. Usually the stem is erect, and as a rule the
Cotton plant in form is not unlike the fir tree, that is, its lower
branches are wider than those above, and this gradual tapering extends
to the top of the tree. In consequence of this it is said to be
_terete_. The leaves are alternate, veined and petiolated, that is, they
have a leaf stalk connecting leaf and stem. In shape the leaves are
cordate or heart-shaped, as well as sub-cordate, and the number of lobes
found in the leaf varies from three to seven. The stipules or little
appendages found on the petioles, resembling small leaves in appearance
and texture, are generally found in pairs. The calyx is cup-shaped, and
the petals of the flower are very conspicuous, and vary in colour
according to the species, being brownish-red, purple, rose-coloured,
and yellow. The petals, five in number, are often joined together at the
base. The ovary is sessile, that is, it directly rests upon the main
stem, and is usually three to five celled. The pod or capsule, which
contains the seeds and cotton fibre, when ripe splits into valves, which
vary in number from three to five. A characteristic feature of the pod
is the sharp top point formed by the meeting of the pointed valves. The
seeds are numerous and very seldom smooth, being usually thickly covered
with fibrous matter known as raw cotton. As is well known, the wind
performs a very important function in the dispersal of seeds. It is
clear that when a seed is ready to be set free, and is provided by a
tuft of hair, such as is seen on the cotton seed, dandelion and willow
herb, it becomes a very easy matter for it to be carried ever so far,
when a good breeze is blowing. Most of us have blown, when children, at
the crown of white feathery matter in the dandelion, and have been
delighted to see the tiny parachutes carrying off its tiny seed to be
afterward deposited, and ultimately take root and appear as a new plant.
Much in the same way, before it was cultivated, the Cotton plant
perpetuated its own species. It should be added that the root of the
Cotton plant is tap shaped, and penetrates deeply into the earth.
It would be well nigh impossible to enumerate all the species which are
now known in the Cotton plant family, and it is not proposed here to
describe more than the principal types of the Gossypium. In a report
prepared by Mr. Tracy of Mississippi, U. S. A., no less than one
hundred and thirty varieties of American cotton are given. He says:
"The word 'variety' refers exclusively to the various forms and kinds
which are called varieties by cotton planters, and is not restricted to
the more marked and permanent types which are recognised by botanists.
Of botanical varieties there are but few, while of agricultural
varieties there are an almost infinite number, and the names under which
the agricultural varieties are known are many times greater than the
recognisable forms." The Cotton plant most readily responds to any
changes of climate, methods of cultivation, change of soil or of
fertilizers. So that it is easy to understand in a plant so susceptible
and prone to vary as is the cotton, that new species may in a few years
be brought into existence, and especially by means of proper selection
of the seed, and careful cultivation.
The chief commercial types of _Gossypium_ are--1. _Barbadense_; 2.
_Herbaceum_; 3. _Hirsutum_; 4. _Arboreum_; 5. _Neglectum_; 6.
_Peruvianum_.
_Gossypium Barbadense._--The fine long silky fibres of commerce are all
derived from this species. It is indigenous to a group of the West
Indian Islands named the Lesser Antilles. It gets its name from
Barbadoes, one of the West Indies. At the present time it is cultivated
throughout the Southern States of North America which border on the sea,
in most of the West Indian Islands, Central America, Western Africa
lying between the tropics, Bourbon, Egypt, Australia, and the East
Indies. There is no doubt that the plant comes to its highest and most
perfect state of cultivation when it is planted near the sea. Dr. Evans
says: "It may be cultivated in any region adapted to the olive and near
the sea, the principal requisite being a hot and humid atmosphere, but
the results of acclimatisation indicate that the humid atmosphere is not
entirely necessary if irrigation be employed, as this species is
undoubtedly grown extensively in Egypt." The height of this species
varies from 3 to 4 feet if cultivated as an annual, and from 6 to 8 feet
if allowed to grow as a perennial. When in full leaf and flower, it is a
most graceful-looking plant. Yarns having the finest counts, as they are
called, are all spun from Sea Islands, which belongs to this class. When
we are told that a single pound of this cotton is often spun into a
thread about 160 miles long we can see that it must be exceedingly good
and strong cotton to do this.
Image: FIG. 4.--The Gossypium Barbadense.
_Lint_ is the name given to the cotton which remains when separated from
the seeds. Every other American type of cotton gives a greater
percentage of lint than the Sea Islands cotton, though it should be
stated that the price per pound is greater than any other kind of cotton
grown in the States. There are from six to nine seeds in each capsule
and the prevailing colour is black. A cotton grown in Egypt and known by
the name _Gallini_ is of the Sea Islands type and has been produced from
seed of the G. Barbadense. It should be added that the colour of the
flower is yellow and that in India this plant is known by the name of
Bourbon Cotton.
_Gossypium Herbaceum_.--As indicated by the name, this type is
herbaceous in character, especially the cultivated type. When Lamarck
classified this tree, he gave it the name Indicum because he considered
most of the Indian types and some of the Chinese belonged to this
particular species. India, too, is considered by Parlatore to have been
the original home of the herbaceous type, and he specially fixes the
Coromandel Coast as the first centre from which it sprang. There is much
conflict of opinion in localising the primitive habitat of this type,
and it is now thought that the present stock is probably the result of
hybridisation of several species more or less related to each other.
However, the areas in which this class of cotton grows are very numerous
and extensive, for we find it growing in India, China, Arabia, Persia,
Asia Minor, and Africa. A very characteristic feature of this plant is
that it quickly decays after podding, when cultivated as an annual.
The _Vine Cotton_ grown in Cuba belongs to the herbaceous type and is
remarkable for its large pods, which contain an abnormal number of
seeds. The so-called "Nankeen" cottons are said to be "Colour
variations" of the herbaceous Cotton plant. Many varieties of Egyptian
cottons are produced from this particular class, as well as the Surat
cotton of India.
A feature which distinguishes this type is that the seeds are covered
with two kinds of fibre, a long and short, the latter being very dense.
The process of taking the longer fibre from the seed must be very
carefully watched, as it becomes a troublesome matter to remove the
shorter fibre when once it has come away from the seed with the longer.
Hence great care should be taken in gathering this class of cotton.
Another point which should not be lost sight of is, that the herbaceous
type of Cotton plant readily hybridises with some other varieties and
the result is a strain of much better quality.
_Gossypium Hirsutum_.--This variety is so called because of the hairy
nature of every part of the plant, leaves, stems, branches, pods and
seeds--all having short hairs upon them. By Dr. Royle it is considered a
sub-variety of the Barbadense cotton, and by other American experts it
is given as synonymous with G. Herbaceum. However this may be, the plant
has certain well-defined characteristics which possibly entitle it to be
considered as a distinct type. It has been asserted by a competent
authority that the original habitat of this particular cotton was
Mexico, and that from this country cultivators have imported it
throughout the sub-tropical districts of the world.
It is also stated that longstapled Georgian Uplands cotton belongs to
the Hirsutum variety. In fact most of the types cultivated in America
fall into this class. Parlatore also considers it to be indigenous to
Mexico, and states that all green seeded cotton which is so extensively
cultivated has been obtained from this type originally. M. Deschamps, in
describing the Hirsutum species, says it is divided into two varieties,
one having green seeds, being of a hardier type, and the other having
greyish seeds, being more delicate and growing in the more southern
districts of the States.
_Gossypium Arboreum_.--This plant attains treelike proportions, hence
the name Arboreum. In some cases it will grow as high as twenty feet. It
is also known by the name G. Religiosum, because the cotton spun from
this plant was used only for making threads which were woven into cloth
for making turbans for the priests of India. Dr. Royle on one occasion
while in that country was informed by the head gardener of a Botanical
Garden at Saharunpore that this cotton was not used for making cloth for
the lower garments at all, its use being restricted to turbans for their
heads, as it was sacred to the gods. That is why it also received the
name, "_Deo Cotton_."
One or two interesting features of this type may be pointed out. The
colour of the flowers is characteristic, being brownish and purply-red
and having a dark spot purple in colour near the base of the corolla,
this latter being bell-shaped. Like the herbaceous type two kinds of
fibre are found on the seed and great care is needed in the separation
of them. Also, it should be pointed out that the fibres, in this class
are with difficulty removed from the seed, clinging very tenaciously to
it.
The Arboreum type is indigenous to India and along the sea board washed
by the Indian Ocean. The fibre from this species is much shorter in
average length than any of the preceding varieties.
_Gossypium Neglectum._--This too is an Indian cotton, and according to
Royle the celebrated and beautiful Dacca cotton which gives the famous
muslins, as well as the long cloth of Madras, are made from cotton
obtained from the Neglectum variety. An important feature of this plant
is the small pod which bears the fibre and the small number of seeds
contained in each septa of the capsule, being only from five to eight in
number. Like some preceding forms, the seeds carry cotton of two
lengths, the shorter of the two being ashy green in colour. The longer
fibre is harsh to the touch and white in colour. In many points it is
very similar to the Arboreum type and is considered by some botanists
to be a cross between the Arboreum species and some other. It does not
attain any great height, being often in bush form under two feet. The
country of Five Rivers or the Punjaub, North West Provinces and Bengal,
are the districts in India in which it is mostly cultivated as a field
crop. It has a high commercial value, forming the main bulk of the
cotton produced in the Bengal presidency. This plant is indigenous to
India.
_Gossypium Peruvianum._--So called because Peru was considered to be the
habitat of this cotton. By some authorities this particular species is
for all practical purposes synonymous with the first type
described--viz., Barbadense. By others it is said to be closely allied
to the Acuminatum variety, so named because of the pointed character of
its capsules and leaves. Perhaps the most striking feature of this plant
is the colour of the seeds, which is black. Another interesting point
about the seeds is that they adhere closely to each other, and form a
cone-like mass. Brazil is the home of this particular species, though it
is cultivated here in two forms, as "Tree Cotton" and as "Herbaceous
Cotton." The former is also known by the name Crioulo or Maranhâo Cotton
or short Mananams. It appears also that the Tree Cotton is one of the
very few which does not suffer from the depredations of the cotton
caterpillar. What is known as "Kidney Cotton" belongs to this species,
which is sometimes named Braziliense. The name kidney is given because
of the peculiar manner in which the seeds are arranged in the capsule,
adhering together in each cell in the form of a kidney.
The most important countries in which it is grown are Brazil and Peru,
though it is produced in other districts outside these countries, but
not to any great extent.
A very curious cotton which receives the name of "Red Peruvian" is also
produced in South America. On account of its colour, it has only a very
limited sale. This is owing to the difficulty there is in blending or
mixing it with any other cotton of similar quality.
Cottons known generally as Santos, Cæra and Pernams are not of this
species--viz., Gossypium Peruvianum, but belong to the first and second
of the types already described.
=The Strength of Cotton Fibres.=--Mr. O'Neill some years ago made many
experiments with a view to obtaining the strengths of the different
fibres, and the following table compiled by him, will be of interest to
the general reader.
Sea Islands 83.9 mean breaking strain in grains.
Queensland 147.6 " "
Egyptian 127.2 " "
Maranham 107.1 " "
Bengueld 100.6 " "
Pernambuco 140.2 " "
New Orleans 147.7 " "
Upland 104.5 " "
Surat (Dhollerah) 141.9 " "
Surat (Comptah) 163.7 " "
From this table it is arguable that the strength of fibre varies
according to the diameter, that is to say, the fibre with the thickest
diameter carries the highest strain. The order, therefore, in which the
fibres would fall, according to strength, would be, Indian, American,
Australian, Brazilian, Egyptian, and Sea Islands last.
=The Chemistry of the Cotton Plant.=--Messrs. M'Bryde & Beal, Chemists in
the Experimental Station in Tennessee, say, "As a rule our staple
agricultural plants have not received the thorough, systematic chemical
investigation that their importance demands." It would appear that until
recent times the above statement was only too true. Now, however, the
United States Government and others have instituted experiments on a
large scale, and everything is now being done in the direction of
research, with a view to improving the quality of this important plant.
A complete Cotton plant consists of roots, stems, leaves, bolls, seed
and lint. Now if these six parts of the plant be weighed, they vary very
much, proving that some of them are more exhaustive than others, so far
as the fertilizing matters found in the soil are concerned. For example,
if water be discarded in the calculation, though this takes up a fair
percentage of the total weight, about 10, it is found that the roots
take up by weight over 8 per cent. of the whole plant, stems over 23 per
cent., leaves over 20, bolls over 14, seeds over 23, and lint only
10-1/2 per cent.
Now this statement is interesting as showing one or two important
features. The weight of the seed is seen to be nearly a quarter of the
whole plant, while the stems and leaves together take up nearly one
half. A very small proportion by weight of the plant is taken by the
lint.
A chemical analysis of the mature Cotton plant yielded the following
substances:--
Water. Potash.
Ash. Lime.
Nitrogen. Magnesia.
Phosphoric acid. Sulphuric acid.
Insoluble matter.
Of ten analyses made with the cotton lint (which takes up about 10-1/2
per cent. of the whole) M'Bryde states that the average amount of water
found was 6.77, ash 1.8, nitrogen .2, phosphoric acid .05, potash .85,
lime .15, and magnesia .16.
He very pertinently remarks also "that if the lint were the only part of
the plant removed from the land on which it is grown, cotton would be
one of the least exhaustive of farm crops. The only other part which
need be permanently lost to the soil is the oil, which also contains
very small amounts of fertilising constituents." In connection with this
he further says "that even when the seed is taken away along with the
lint, cotton still removes smaller amounts of fertilising materials from
the soil than either oats or corn." It should be borne in mind that the
soil upon which cotton is cultivated lies fallow for a greater part of
the year, and the fact of absence of cultivation, with consequent
non-fertilising and non-enriching of land, must tend in the direction of
soil exhaustion by the Cotton plant.
Another useful and important fact in connection with the Cotton plant is
the medicinal use to which the roots are put. According to the _American
Journal of Pharmacy_, the bark from the roots of the Cotton plant
contain an active ingredient which in its effects is very much like
ergot.
Chemical investigations have conclusively proved that the ripe fibre of
the Cotton plant is composed of the following substances:--
Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and they tell us that when cotton is fully
ripe it is almost pure cellulose.
Dr. Bowman has pointed out that the percentage of water in cotton fibre
"varies with different seasons from 1 to 4 per cent. in the new crop,
and rather less as the season advances. Above 2 per cent. of moisture,
however, seems to be an excessive quantity even in a new crop cotton,
and when more than this is present it is either the result of a wet
season and the cotton has been packed before drying, or else it has been
artificially added."
About one fifth of the whole plant by weight consists of the seed, and
an analysis of this shows them to be composed of water, ash, nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, ferric
oxide, chlorine, and insoluble matter.
As a commercial product seeds are exceedingly valuable, and yield the
following substances:--oil, meal, hulls, and linters. When the hulls are
ground they receive the name of cotton seed bran. The inside of the
seed, when the hull has been removed, is often called the kernel and is
sometimes also designated peeled seed, hulled seed, and meats. It is
this kernel seed which, when properly treated, yields large supplies of
oil and meal.
CHAPTER II.
COTTON-PLANT DISEASES AND PESTS.
There are several classes of agents all of which act injuriously more or
less on the Cotton plant.
1. Climatic changes, including hygrometric variations of the
atmosphere, and extremes of heat and cold.
2. Insect pests.
3. Physiological diseases of the plant.
4. Blights caused by fungi.
It has been pointed out in the early pages of this story, how very
sensible to changes of heat and cold, the Cotton plant is, especially in
the early growing period. When the plant has just risen above the
ground, and is beginning to spread its roots, too great an amount of
heat would be fatal to its further growth.
Instances could be given where very serious decreases in the production
of cotton in the States especially have taken place, due entirely to
unusually high temperatures which obtained during the early growing
period of the Cotton plant.
Extremes of frost are likewise fatal to the growth of the young plant.
By the beginning of April, frosts have as a rule disappeared, and no
further fear need be felt on that account, though if the end of winter
has been abnormally warm, and the young plants have been making leaf too
quickly, it will be readily seen how fatal a sharp frost or two must be
to the young and tender plant. There are cases, however, when a frost
is beneficial.
Then again, while rain is needed in fair quantity, too much of it is
followed by rot and myriads of pests. If the planter desires anything at
all when his crop is ripe, it is fine weather in which to gather his
harvest.
Frequently large quantities of cotton are left on the plantations,
because it is too wet to gather it. This happened a few years ago to an
unusual extent, when a vast quantity of cotton had to be left upon the
fields.
Of all the injurious agents most dreaded in the cotton-growing districts
of the globe, none are so widely spread or so disastrous as "insect
pests."
They attack different parts of the plant during its growth, and when the
bolls are formed they commit great havoc among these by boring through
and completely ruining the immature fibre. Then again, while the plant
is young, they may attack the most tender portion of the plant, viz.,
the new and young leaves found at or near the top. This they soon clear
and make their way as caterpillars down the plant, and they frequently
clear it as though the leaves had been plucked off.
So completely do they do their work that it has been calculated in
certain years the loss on this account alone cannot have been far short
in America of 3-1/2 million pounds in one year.
Of the chief forms of insect pests, two specially stand out into
prominence, both of which belong to the moth tribe of insects, viz.,
_Alethia argillacea_ or Cotton Caterpillar, and the _Heliothis armiger_
or Cotton Boll-Caterpillar.
The operations of the former are mostly confined to devastating the
leaves and buds, while the latter confines its special attention to the
bolls which, were they allowed to ripen, would burst with cotton.
The eggs of the former, too, are laid on the under side of the upper
leaves and vast numbers are deposited. The moth flies by night, and the
eggs laid are extremely difficult to discover--indeed it takes an expert
to quickly find them.
Usually, about midsummer, the eggs are hatched in three or four days and
then comes the period for spoliation.
All that is tender is assimilated, usually the under side of the young
tender leaves found at the top of the plant.
During this stage of its existence the caterpillar moults five times and
the larva period varies somewhat according to the weather from one to
three weeks.
The chrysalis or pupa state covers from one week to four, and at last
emerges as a beautiful olive gray moth with a purplish lustre.
In about four days the female commences to lay eggs very rapidly and
will lay sometimes as many as six hundred during its life. No wonder,
then, with several generations during a season and vast numbers of
moths, that untold damages can be wrought by these particular insects in
a single season.
A number of remedies has been successfully applied in the direction of
spraying various chemical solutions, and in sowing plants which have had
the direct effect of reducing the spread of this terrible pest. Its
method of working can be seen on referring to Fig. 4.
Now the Boll-Caterpillar, though it lives much in the same way as the
Alethia, has a very different method of procedure so far as its
destructive habits are concerned.
And its fields and pastures, too, are by no means confined to one
continent, or to one kind of plant, for it attacks both the tomato and
corn plants. According to Dr. Howard, "It feeds upon peas, beans,
tobacco, pumpkin, squash, okra, and a number of garden flowering plants,
such as cultivated geranium, gladiolus, mignonette, as well as a number
of wild plants." As the name indicates, the Boll-Caterpillar makes the
boll its happy hunting-ground. The eggs are laid in the same way by the
parent moth as the Cotton Caterpillar or Alethia, and when hatched the
young powerfully jawed caterpillar makes its way to the newly-formed
boll, and applying itself vigorously, very soon gains an entrance. Here
it rests for a time, eating away at the best it can find. It ultimately
emerges and is transformed into the pupa, taking up its quarters in the
ground, until the next change takes place, when in a week or two's time
it appears as a moth much the same in size as its cousin the Alethia,
but coloured ochre yellow to dull olive-green and being more varied in
its markings. It will lay during one season about 500 eggs.
Many remedies have been applied for the extirpation of this particular
insect, but these only seem to have met with partial success. It will
readily be seen how much more difficult this pest is to deal with than
the preceding one. Living as it does in the boll and in the ground for a
great part of its existence, it will be exceedingly difficult to get
at.
In Mexico what is known as the Cotton-Boll Weevil (_Anthonomus grundis_)
appears to do great mischief to the Cotton plant. It does most damage
during the larvæ stage, eating up the tender portions of the boll while
in residence here. When matured it is only a little under half an inch
in length.
Many other insects act injuriously upon the Cotton plant, but the
following may be taken as the chief: Cotton Cutworm (_Feltia malefida_);
Cotton lice (_Aphis gossypii_). Among the lepidoptera may be mentioned,
_Cocæcia rosaceana_, or "Leaf-roller," so called from its habit of
curiously rolling the leaves of the Cotton plant and then feeding inside
the roll. Then grasshoppers and locusts occasionally do some damage, as
well as a beetle named _Ataxia crypta_, which is noted for attacking the
stalks of the Cotton plants, but it should be pointed out this beetle
does not prey upon healthy and vigorous plants at all.
Scores of other insects could be mentioned as injurious, though some of
them do but very slight damage indeed to the Cotton plant.
It does appear, however, from long years of experiment and observations,
that little damage needs to be feared if the plants, while growing, and
during the formation of the boll, can be carefully watched and guarded.
The plants when matured are better able to withstand the onslaughts
which these predaceous insects make upon them.
Then again, there are large numbers of physiological diseases of the
cotton due to inherent weakness of the plant or failure of assimilative
processes.
And lastly, vast numbers of fungi, too numerous to mention here, work
serious injury to leaf, flower and boll in certain seasons of the year.
CHAPTER III.
CULTIVATION OF THE COTTON PLANT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
From what has already been said, it will be quite clear that the Cotton
plant will only successfully thrive in those regions on the earth's
surface where there are suitable temperature and soil, and a proper and
adequate supply of moisture both in the atmosphere and soil. When the
45th parallel of North Latitude is reached, the plant ceases to grow
except under glass or in exceptionally well favoured and temperate
districts. Below the Equator the southern limit is the 35th parallel.
With a model of the globe before him, the reader will see, if he mark
the two lines already named, what a small belt the "Cotton-growing zone"
is, compared with the rest of the globe, and yet in 1901 it is estimated
that no fewer than 10,486,000 bales of 500 lbs. net average each were
produced in the United States alone, 695,000 came from the cotton fields
of India, from Egypt 1,224,000, an increase of 600,000 bales in ten
years. This vast quantity does not include what was produced in other
countries, which we know in the aggregate was very considerable.
=American Cultivation of the Cotton Plant.=--Perhaps no country
illustrates the fact so well as does the United States, that the
variations in the quality of cotton are very largely--it may be said
almost entirely--due to distance from sea board, height above sea level
and difference of soil.
The surface geology of the Southern United States as a whole, is of a
most diversified character, and the following States in which cotton is
produced, in many cases show a similar variation.
North Carolina. Tennessee.
South Carolina. Alabama.
Georgia. Mississippi.
Florida. Louisiana.
Arkansas. Texas.
Perhaps Texas shows the greatest number of distinct soil areas, viz.,
eight. Height above the sea level has also a considerable influence upon
the plants cultivated, and only the hardier and more robust types are to
be found on the more elevated lands. At the beginning of the nineteenth
century South Carolina produced more cotton than any other State. Fifty
years later, Alabama was to the front. Ten years later, Mississippi led
the way, and in 1901 Texas occupied the premier position with 3,526,649
bales, followed in order by Georgia and Mississippi.
The following table from Bulletin 100 of the Bureau of the Census,
Department of Commerce and Labor, gives the acreage devoted to
cultivation of cotton in 1908 as follows:
Alabama 3,591,000 acres.
Arkansas 2,296,000 "
Florida 265,000 "
Georgia 4,848,000 "
Louisiana 1,550,000 "
Mississippi 3,395,000 "
Missouri 87,000 "
North Carolina 1,458,000 "
Oklahoma 2,311,000 "
South Carolina 2,545,000 "
Tennessee 754,000 "
Texas 9,316,000 "
Virginia 28,000 "
----------
32,444,000 "
The figure for Missouri includes other cotton-producing localities not
named.
Before dealing with the actual cultivation of cotton, as carried on in
the States, it will be well to briefly name the kind of soils which are
met with in this cotton area. Generally speaking, soils are divided into
the following classes:--
Clayey soils.
Clayey loam soils.
Loamy soils.
Sandy loam soils.
Sandy soils.
This classification is determined by the relative percentage of sand and
clay.
In the States we have all these types, and in some districts they lie
within easy reach of each other. It should be pointed out that
sufficient and uniform heat and humidity are essential to the
production of good cotton crops, and as the sandy soils are of an open
character, it is plain that moisture will readily pass from these, while
the heavy clays act just in the opposite direction, viz., prevent the
uniform evaporation of the moisture within them; hence, as a rule,
clayey lands are moist and damp, and it has been found from observation
that on lands of this class, a good deal of wood and leaf are produced,
and but little fruit relatively. A matter therefore which must not be
lost sight of, is that a suitable texture should be found, or, in other
words, the amount of sand and clay in the soils should be in the right
proportion. Of course, however suitable a soil may be, if the climatic
conditions are adverse, only failure can result. Given good land,
properly drained and a suitable temperature, together with an uniform
supply of moisture, heavy crops may be expected. Sudden changes in the
temperature, and variations in the amount of moisture, certainly act
deleteriously upon the plant, especially during the period in which the
young one is growing. There is a great difference between a wet soil and
a moist one, and there is perhaps nothing so much dreaded by the
planters as a sodden soil. Up to the end of July the soil should be
continuously and uniformly moist, and it would appear that, provided
this condition is satisfied, there is every likelihood of a heavy crop
resulting, if the temperature has been anything like suitable. Looked at
from every point of view, therefore, the best and safest soil in which
to grow cotton is a deep loam where there is every probability of the
necessary conditions being fulfilled.
As compared with sixty years ago the present methods of cultivation
show very great differences. Most of us are acquainted with the
conditions of labour which existed at that time. Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe,
in her pathetic and life-like story, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," has given us
such a glimpse into slave life that she has placed us all under lasting
obligations to her. Happily all that has gone and the slave, as such, is
now known no more in America. Three causes are said to have done more to
change the methods of American cotton cultivation than anything else,
viz.:--
The Civil War.
The abolition of slavery.
Introduction of artificial fertilisers.
There are those who affirm to-day that the last-named has been the most
potent factor of the three.
In many cases, previous to the war, crop after crop was grown upon the
same land without any thought of returning those elements, in the form
of manure, to the earth, which it so much required. But immediately
after the conclusion of the war, the conditions of labour were changed
and it became a matter of absolute necessity to find something which
would give life to the land, hence the introduction of fertilisers. It
is stated on the authority of Dr. White of Georgia, that it would be
"difficult to conceive how cotton culture could have been continued or
sustained but for the use of such manures."
In a work of this kind it is impossible to describe in detail the
various methods of cultivation adopted in the several cotton States, but
the following will give a fair idea of what actually takes place on a
large cotton plantation, assuming that the land is well drained. It
should be said here draining has not received that attention which it
ought to have done, and many of the failures put down to other causes
are now known to have been due entirely to bad drainage. As an
alternative to proper drainage, the practice of raising the Cotton plant
beds and cultivating them to greater depth, has been followed. Most of
the planters are too poor to drain properly, and so adopt the banking
method, though in the long run this is the more expensive of the two.
Let us assume that the cotton crop has all been gathered. We have an
immense quantity of old cotton stalks which need removing. This is
usually done before February. As a rule, the litter is gathered into
heaps and burned. Ploughing and harrowing next follow, and ridges are
formed which in the elevated districts are not quite so far apart as in
the low-lying areas. We can see that in the latter districts the plants
will be much more prolific and grow to a better state of perfection,
hence more room must be allowed for them. These ridges lie, in some
cases, 3 feet apart and in others 4 and 5.
Especially when manures or fertilisers have been used, bedding up is
generally adopted.
As is to be expected in a country like America, the very best and most
approved methods of cultivation are followed, hence the old system of
sowing seed by hand is discarded, and seed-planting machines are now
coming into general use. The distance apart which the seeds (about five
or six in one hole) should be set, is still a moot question, but it is
generally admitted to be unsafe to plant at greater distances than 12
inches. When sown, a light covering is put over, and in a few
days--about twelve generally--the tiny plants make their appearance. Two
or three days after, another leaf is seen, and it may be said that the
real and anxious work of the cultivator now begins. In the Carolina
districts this will happen about the end of April. The planting in the
more southern States will take place earlier. What has next to be done
is very particular work, viz., cutting down and thinning the plants,
which, if allowed to grow, would simply choke one another. Here and
there at suitable distances, groups of plants in the same row are
selected as "stands" or groups of plants from which will be selected the
best plant, which is allowed to go forward in its growth; all the rest
being chopped out or weeded out.
Banking up or bedding up is the next process, and this is done running
the plough in the spaces between the ridges or practically over the old
cotton bed of the preceding season. This will improve the ventilating
power of the bed considerably and prevent somewhat the logging of the
soil, which is extremely undesirable. The plough is immediately followed
by the field labourers, whose work is now to draw the loose soil round
the Cotton plants. This last process of "hauling" completes the
labourers' work for a time, and is done for the purpose of keeping the
plant erect and preventing it from falling down. This hauling process is
repeated until July, when only one plant is left out of the five or six
which were planted originally. After four haulings, which are completed
as a rule by the end of July, the productive processes may be said to be
completed. If the weather has been favourable and the soil kept fairly
moist, a good crop may be fully anticipated. What the planters like to
see during the growing period is a summer in which the sun shines every
day, accompanied by those frequent and gentle showers which clean the
plant and give the necessary humidity to the atmosphere and soil. Two
things are dreaded by the planter--excessive heats and abnormal showers.
The bloom appears about the middle of June and a couple of months after
this the plants are ready for picking. This operation usually is carried
on from the beginning of September or end of August right on into
November, sometimes through this month into December. Here are given a
few particulars which have been collected by Shepperson bearing on this
particular subject.
+-------------+---------+----------+---------+------------------+---------+
| | Usual | | Usual | | Usual |
| | date to |Usual date| date to | Usual date to | date to |
| | begin | to begin | finish | begin Picking. | finish |
| STATES |Preparing| Planting.|Planting.| | Picking.|
| | the | | | | |
| | Land. | | | | |
+-------------+---------+----------+---------+------------------+---------+
| N. Carolina | Feb. 25 | April 15 | May 10 | Sep. 1 | Dec. 10 |
| S. Carolina | Mar. 5 | April 15 | May 7 | Aug. 15 to Sep. 1| Dec. 1 |
| Georgia | Feb. 1 | April 10 | May 1 | Aug. 15 to 20 | Dec. 1 |
| Florida | Jan. 20 | April 1 | May 1 | Aug. 10 | Dec. 1 |
| Alabama | Feb. 1 | April 5 | May 10 | Aug. 10 to 20 | Dec. 15 |
| Mississippi | Feb. 1 | April 5 | May 10 | Aug. 10 to 20 | Dec. 15 |
| Louisiana | Feb. 1 | April 1 | May 10 | Aug. 1 to 15 | Dec. 15 |
| Texas | Jan. 15 | March 15 | May 10 | Aug. 1 | Dec. 20 |
| Arkansas | Feb. 15 | April 15 | May 15 | Aug. 15 to 20 | Jan. 15 |
| Tennessee | Mar. 1 | April 15 | May 15 | Sep. 1 to 10 | Jan. 15 |
+-------------+---------+----------+---------+------------------+---------+
=Other Cotton-producing Countries in America.=--In addition to the States,
which have already been named, there are other cotton-producing
countries in the Western Hemisphere, among which are the following:--
Brazil. Mexico.
West Indies. Peru and the South Sea Islands.
=Cultivation of Cotton in Brazil.=--From a very remote period, cotton has
been cultivated in Brazil. Early in the sixteenth century historians
refer to the uses to which cotton was put at that time. Seguro, in his
work describing the customs of the ancient people who lived in the
Amazon valleys, says that the arrows used in connection with their
blowguns were covered with cotton. It is probable that, before the dawn
of the eighteenth century, the cultivation of cotton was practised more
or less throughout the country. Up to thirty years ago, it looked as
though the cotton-growing industry in Brazil was likely to be an
increasing and profitable business. Owing, however, to many causes, the
trade has not grown as was to have been expected.
Among the chief of these causes are:--
1. Laxity of method in cultivating.
2. Poor means of transmission.
3. Severe competition by the United States.
4. Disturbed condition of the country.
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 competitors 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 quantity 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, Assistant
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 competitor 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, Japan, 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 Assam and Burmah, is about 1,300,000 square miles, the native
states alone covering 595,000 square miles.
Out of the 28° of North Latitude 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 circumstances, such as different
altitudes 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 quantities 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, Godavari, 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 pass over them laden as they
are with vast quantities 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 Godivari. 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 anticipation. Dharwar lies S. W. of the province of
Hyderabad near the sea, and almost touches 15° N. Latitude.
_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.
Latitude (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 substitute. 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 }
Assam } 230,000 "
Burmah (Lower)}
Burmah (Upper)}
Ajmere and Meywara 40,000 "
----------
15,983,000 "
Bombay, Kurrachee, Calcutta, Madras, Tuticorin and Cocanada are the
chief Indian cotton ports.
=Cotton-growing in Russia in Asia.=--Lying immediately north of Persia and
Afghanistan and south of Khirghiz Steppes lies an immense area much of
which is now being cultivated and most of it very fit for the production
of cotton. The Sea of Ural has running into it two very large rivers,
Amu Daria and the Syr Daria, and it is in the neighbourhood of these two
rivers where we find by far the greatest weight of cotton of Turkestan
produced.
There are four important areas, viz., Syr Daria, the centre of which is
Tashkend; Fergana, which lies between Samarcand and Bokhara; the
district of Samarcand itself; and Merv, which stands on the Overland
Railway. It appears that many attempts were made to introduce cottons of
various types into this locality, but most of the delicate species
failed. The Upland of America, however, survived, and has continued to
succeed, thanks to the valuable help which the Government gave in the
way of instruction and distribution of free seed.
The first Government cotton plantation was commenced at Tashkend, one of
the termini of the Transcaspian Railway. Eight years ago there were
upwards of a quarter of a million acres devoted to cotton cultivation.
During the American War (that period which quickened all the
cotton-growing centres of the Eastern Hemisphere) the production of
fibre may be said to have commenced in earnest in Turkestan, and so late
ago as 1890 no less than forty-five and a half million pounds of good
fibre were grown. Tashkend, it would appear, promises to hold its own,
as it is determined to practise the best and most scientific methods in
the growth of cotton; in fact, in very few centres outside this
district, old and out of date operations are followed. Even in the
districts of Fergana and Samarcand, the old wooden plough called a
"sokha" is still in use.
Seed, as in the case of India, is mostly sown broadcast, and very little
preparing of the land is done. Yet, in spite of these deficiencies, good
crops are raised in many districts, capital soil and a most equable
climate making up for the shortcomings of the planter. The formation of
the Transcaspian Railway cannot but have an important influence upon the
cotton-growing industry in Turkestan, running as it does through the
very heart of the best land in the country. It should be noted that
Bohkara annually produces over 50,000,000 pounds of cotton of the
herbaceous type, and Khiva, another district lying still further east of
those already mentioned, over 20,000,000 pounds.
Lying between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea, lies another district named
Transcaucasia, which yields large supplies of cotton. It has 100,000
acres devoted to cotton, giving over 20,000,000 pounds per annum. North
of Kokan, on the river Syr Daria, is a rising cotton district named
Khojend, where annually 3,000,000 pounds of cotton of the American type
are raised.
When we consider that the quantity of cotton carried by the Transcaspian
Railway since 1888 has more than quadrupled, and that in ten years the
quantity shipped has been increased from quarter of a million pounds to
over 72,000,000 pounds, we can quite appreciate the significance of the
statement that before long Russia will be able to grow all her own
cotton for the medium and lower numbers of yarns.
=Cotton-growing in China, Corea and Japan.=--Japan, the land of the
chrysanthemum, for many years now has been developing cotton-growing as
well as cotton manufacturing. From evidence which the cold type of the
Board of Trade gives, Japan bids fair to largely increase her trade with
India to the disadvantage of the present suppliers.
Cotton-growing has been practised for some centuries in Japan, but it
was not until the seventeenth century that anything like progress could
be reported. From that time to the present the growth has been gradually
on the increase.
Japan proper consists of the Islands of Niphon, Kiusiu, Shikoku, Yesso,
and an immense number of smaller islands. Cotton cultivation is carried
on mainly on the first three islands named, and in the following
districts:--San Indo, Wakayama, Osaka, Kuantoebene, Hitachi and Suo.
Taken as a whole, the cotton grown in the best areas is good, though
much of an inferior kind is produced. The most southerly area of
Wakayama in Niphon yields the best cotton of Japan.
The length of the fibre generally is much less than the herbaceous kind.
About 10 per cent. of the entire arable land is now under cultivation
for cotton. As a rule, methods and processes are of a primitive kind.
=Cotton-growing in Corea.=--Lying directly to the west of Japan, this vast
peninsula has of late years been developing its cotton-growing. Five
centuries ago cotton was imported from China, and one sees on every hand
the influence of the Celestials. The cultivated plant is of the
perennial type, though it is planted annually, the old plants being dug
up and burned, the ash being used as a fertiliser. Statistics at present
are not to be relied upon, though it is supposed that something like
three quarters of a million acres are now under cultivation, giving on
the average about 250 pounds of cotton lint. As in the case of Japan
very little of this is exported, all of it or nearly so being spun and
woven at home on the most primitive of machines.
The chief districts engaged in growing cotton, nearly all of which lie
in the southern portion of the peninsula, are Hwang-Hi, Kyeng-Sang,
Chel-La, Kyeng Kwi, and Chung Cheog.
=Cotton-growing in China.=--Owing to the great difficulty of obtaining any
reliable statistical information, it is impossible to give anything
approaching accuracy as to number of pounds of cotton produced annually,
or number of acres devoted to the cultivation of the Cotton plant. This
much, however, is known, that for many centuries cotton cultivating has
been followed and that there has been within recent years a great
increase in the weight of the cotton crop as well as in the acreage. The
type of plant most generally cultivated is the herbaceous, and the
cotton resulting is only poor in quality. Little or no preparation is
made before sowing seed, which is generally done broadcast. As a result
there is much overcrowding, and as is inevitable, there is produced a
stubby plant with small bolls and much unripe cotton. On the terraces
of the hillsides something approaching cultivation is pursued, with the
result of a better crop.
Usually twenty weeks intervene between planting and picking, this latter
operation being mostly the work of children and women. The old cotton
stalks are afterward collected and dried for fuel.
Very few large plantations exist in China, most of them being only a few
acres in extent.
But little of the cotton grown at home is exported, most of it being
spun and woven by women, though some of the fibre is sent to Japan.
=Cultivation of Cotton in Egypt.=--It is now over thirty years since Sir
Samuel Baker, the great African traveller, wrote these words: "The Nile
might be so controlled that the enormous volume of water that now rushes
uselessly into the Mediterranean might be led through the deserts, to
transform them into cotton fields that would render England independent
of America."
The crop for the season 1900-01 was no less than 1,224,000 bales of 500
pounds each. Ten years ago only 868,000 acres were devoted to cotton
cultivation as against 1,350,000 acres laid down to-day. Everything,
then, points to Sir Samuel Baker's statement becoming an actual fact
much sooner than the famous traveller himself anticipated.
Egypt enjoys many advantages over her competitors across the Atlantic.
In the first place, she can get almost twice as much cotton from the
acre, so productive is the soil. Labour is cheaper, and the plant itself
when young is not subject to the devastating frosts so often met with in
America.
Egypt is divided into three great areas:--Lower Egypt, which includes
the whole of the Delta of the Nile; Upper Egypt; and Nubia. It is in the
first-named district where the whole of Egyptian cotton is produced. At
the present time immense sums are being spent on irrigation and drainage
works, and as these are extended the areas devoted to cotton production
will greatly increase.
At the present time five distinct varieties of cotton are cultivated--
Mitafifi. Bamia.
Abbasi. Gallini.
Ashmouni-Hamouli.
The latter variety was originally known by a different name, Mako Jumel.
For a long time Ashmouni cotton was the principal fibre exported, but
Mitafifi is now in the front of all the other Egyptian cottons. A
noteworthy fact in connection with Ashmouni is, that its cultivation is
on the decline.
Sea Islands Gallini--as it was sometimes called--has practically ceased
to be cultivated. Of Mitafifi and Bamia fibres, Mr. Handy, U. S. A.,
says: "The Mitafifi was discovered by a Greek merchant in the village of
that name. The seed has a bluish tuft at the extremity, which attracted
the merchant's attention, and on planting it he found that it possessed
decided advantage over the old Ashmouni. It is more hardy, and yields a
greater proportion of lint to the seed. At first from 315 pounds of seed
cotton, 112 pounds of lint was secured, and sometimes even more. It is
now somewhat deteriorated, and rarely yields so much, averaging about
106 pounds of lint to 315 of seed cotton. The Mitafifi is a richer and
darker brown than the Ashmouni. The fibre is long, very strong, and fine
to the touch, and is in great demand. In fact, it controls the market.
"Next to Mitafifi, Bamia is perhaps the most extensively cultivated
variety in Lower Egypt. It was discovered by a Copt in 1873. The plant
is of large size and course growth. It is later and less hardy than
Mitafifi, and the fibre is poor as compared with that of Mitafifi and
Abbasi, light and brown in colour, and not very strong. In general, it
may be said that this variety is inferior to Mitafifi in yield,
hardiness and length and strength of fibre."
=Other places where Cotton is grown.=--In Africa, on the eastern and
western coasts, large quantities of cotton are produced. The following
countries are specially suitable to the growth of cotton: Soudan,
Senegambia, Congo River, Free States, and Liberia. Possibly, when these
districts are more opened up to outside trade, and European capital and
labour are expended, abundant supplies of cotton fibre will be given.
Cotton is also grown in the East Indies, at Java, Sumatra, and Malay
States.
In the West Indies formerly, large supplies were yielded, but owing to
the cultivation of other crops that of cotton has steadily declined.
Greece and Turkey both yield cotton which goes by the name of Levant
Cotton.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MICROSCOPE AND COTTON FIBRE.
This story would be very incomplete if some reference were not made to
the wonderful assistance which has been given to the study of cotton
fibre by the microscope. As seen by its help, some striking
peculiarities at once make themselves apparent. It is proposed, briefly,
in this chapter, to do three things:
1. To describe the construction of a suitable instrument sufficient
for a complete examination of fibres in general.
2. To indicate the chief microscopic features of cotton fibres.
3. To show how to exactly measure the lengths and diameters of
fibres by means of micrometers.
First, as to the instrument: a good substantial stand is desirable, one
that will not readily vibrate. The microscope shown in Fig. 6 is a cheap
and commendable form, and good work can be done by this instrument,
which is made by Ross, London. The stand carries the body-tube, and at
the lower end is placed the objective, so called, because the image of
the object (which rests upon the stage as shown) under examination is
first focussed by it and conveyed along the body-tube.
The top end of the said tube contains the eye-piece, so named because by
its aid the eye is allowed to receive the image duly focussed and
enlarged.
As a rule, beginners work with one objective only, generally a one inch.
Image: FIG. 6.--Microscope in position for drawing objects.
A much higher power than this is necessary if the fibre in question is
to be seen at its best, and for the purpose of this chapter a quarter
inch objective will be used.
Underneath the stage, which is pierced by a circular aperture, is a
diaphragm. This regulates the quantity of light which is to be
transmitted by means of the silvered reflector shown in the
illustration.
As a rule, two reflectors are fixed in the same holder; one a concave
mirror, the other a plane one. The former brings the rays of light to a
point or focus while the latter simply passes the beam of light along
just as it received it, viz., as a parallel beam of light.
In examining fibres the concave mirror will be of most use. An ordinary
lamp is usually good enough for the light required, the one figured
being very suitable and having a tube-like arrangement of wick. Behind
the body-tube are two forms of adjustment, coarse and fine. The latter
is worked by means of the milled screw, conical in shape, which is found
immediately behind the coarse adjustment. The operator is supposed to
have had some slight experience in the manipulation of the microscope.
The slide is now placed upon the stage. Fine Sea Islands cotton is
mounted in Canada Balsam and protected by a small circular cover glass.
Now rack down the body-tube by means of the coarse adjustment until
within 1/16 of an inch of the cover-glass of the slide. Now see that the
light from the lamp is fully on the cotton strands. Rack up or down, as
the case may be, with the fine adjustment, and a wonderful sight meets
the eye, for the cotton viewed through the microscope is altogether
unlike what we should expect it to be.
Running completely across the field are a number of strands, varying in
thickness, form and natural twist. What is meant by natural twist is
very clearly shown in Fig. 7.
Most people have seen india-rubber tubing or piping such as is used in
the chemical laboratory or that often found attached to feeding bottles.
Take about a foot of this and hold one end firmly. Abstract the air by
means of the mouth, and it will be found that immediately the air is
taken out the tube collapses. Now if the rubber be variable in
thickness, here and there along these lines of least resistance will be
found certain twists, and it is the same kind of twists which can be so
distinctly seen as the cotton fibre is viewed through the microscope.
They are exceedingly irregular in number, on equal lengths of the same
single fibre. When they run for some length, and are fairly regular, the
edges appear like wavy lines or corrugations. It will now be seen by
the reader why these twists are so invaluable in spinning: locking and
intertwining with each other, they materially assist the spinner in
building up a long and continuous thread.
Image: FIG. 7.--Transverse and longitudinal sections of cotton fibre.
Then, too, are to be seen lying close to the regularly twisted fibres a
number of others which are very like ribbons, with here and there an
apology for a twist, and further, a careful scrutiny will be rewarded by
finding in what is reputedly the best cotton a number of filaments which
do not display any twists whatever and are very much like the round
tubing referred to a little while ago. Others again are quite flat,
without any distinguishing twists whatever. These are said to be the
half-ripe and unripe fibres, and give much trouble later on (if worked
up with good cotton) to the dyer and spinner.
As the slide containing the cotton is moved laterally, it will be seen
that this twisting of the fibre is continued for almost the whole
length, and as many as 300 twists have been counted on a single
filament. In some, the fibre tapers slightly, becoming more and more
cylindrical as the end most remote from the seed is approached, until it
is quite solid. These stiff ends soon disappear after the cotton has
been treated in the early processes of manufacture. Thus there may be
found in almost every sample of cotton what are called ripe, half-ripe
and unripe cotton. The last-named kind result from--
1. Gathering the crop before the boll is properly ripened and
matured.
2. Bad seasons; too much moisture and too little heat.
Then again in the same boll all fibres do not ripen together just as all
apples on the same tree do not ripen together.
Immature or unripe cotton cannot be dyed, and when small white specks
are seen in any dyed fabric they are often due to the fact that unripe
cotton has been used in the manufacture of the cloth.
=Measurement of the Cotton Fibre.=--This is not at all a difficult matter,
and the ordinary student may, by means of very simple and inexpensive
apparatus, obtain fairly satisfactory results in the measurement of
fibres.
There is a choice of one of three methods, viz.:--
1. By having the mechanical stage so arranged that the slightest
displacement either to the left or right can be measured, and having
the eye-piece so marked (generally a hair stretched across it) that
when an object is to be measured, one side of it is made to coincide
with this central line and the stage rack is worked left or right
until the opposite side of the object is brought coincident with the
central line again; the amount of displacement can then be readily
obtained on referring to the graduated stage.
2. By having a stage micrometer and camera lucida.
3. By having two micrometers, a stage micrometer and eye-piece
micrometer.
This latter method is certainly the least expensive, and for all
practical purposes can be safely recommended.
A stage micrometer consists of a slip of glass 3" × 1" on which are
marked divisions of an inch, usually 1/100ths and 1/1000ths. As a rule
these markings are protected by means of a small cover-glass.
Eye-piece micrometers vary much in form, size and value, but the one
which is here described is of the simplest type. It consists of two
circular pieces of glass carefully cemented together. On one of the
inner surfaces are marked usually the 1/100ths divisions of an inch. In
some 1/200ths are marked. If the top lense of the eye-piece be
unscrewed, a diaphragm will be found on which the eye-piece micrometer
will easily rest. Screw on the top lense again and, generally, the
eye-piece will be ready for use. If the micrometer is not properly in
focus after a few trials, it may easily be made right. In order, then,
to measure the diameter of a single fibre of Sea Islands cotton, fit in
the quarter inch objective and place the stage micrometer in position
on the stage. First, focus the fine lines which are plainly to be seen,
and remember the lines which are farthest apart are 1/100th of an inch;
the others 1/1000th of an inch.
As a rule, these lines run from N. to S. of the field; in other words,
from top to bottom across the circles of light. Now look at the
divisions in the eye-piece micrometer, which are 1/100th of an inch
apart.
It will be found often that an exact number of these divisions fill up
one of the 1/100th divisions of the stage micrometer markings. If an
exact number are not found, the draw-tube at the top end of the
body-tube should be withdrawn until an exact number is found to lie
within two lines of the lower micrometer.
Suppose twenty-two of the spaces on the eye-piece micrometer just cover
one of the divisions (1/100th of an inch) on the stage micrometer. Then
it is clear that each division of the former represents 1/100 × 1/22 of
an inch, or 1/2200th of an inch. For every fresh objective used, a fresh
estimation of eye-piece and stage micrometer ratio is necessary. Having
now got in the eye-piece micrometer a unit of measurement, it becomes a
comparatively easy matter to measure the fibre.
Remove the stage-micrometer and put a slide of Sea Islands cotton in its
place. Focus the fibre and observe the number of divisions or parts of a
division covered by any particular fibre, and its measurement is at once
known. Thus if a single filament covers two of the divisions then it is
2/2200th of an inch in diameter, or 1/1100th of an inch. Exactly the
same method is adopted if it is desired to measure the diameters of
sections of the same fibres.
The making of the drawing of a fibre, either transverse or horizontal
section, is not at all a difficult matter.
All that is needed is what is known as a camera lucida. This consists of
a brass fixing for the eye-piece end of the body-tube and a small
reflecting prism. This prism receives the image of the objective, and
reflects it in this case at right angles downward on to a sheet of
paper, which is placed beneath for the purpose of tracing the said
image.
Focus the object, first having the microscope in a horizontal position.
This will not be a difficult matter. Now remove the cap which fits on
the eye-piece, and fix on the camera lucida as shown in the illustration
(see Fig. 6). Adjust this until the image of the fibre is seen. Usually
one or two smoke-coloured glasses are fixed below the prism, and these
are now brought into position so as to allow the image of the fibre to
pass through them. Place a sheet of drawing paper directly under the
camera lucida, sitting as shown in the illustration. After a few trials
it will not be a difficult matter to follow the outline of the image by
means of a black lead on the paper as is shown in the figure. In this
way many useful working drawings can be made, and a little careful
calculation will give the amplification of the drawing after it is
made.
CHAPTER V.
PLANTATION LIFE AND THE EARLY CLEANING PROCESSES.
After many months of anxious watching and waiting, towards the end of
July or early in August, the planter may be seen to be constantly and
wistfully looking for the appearance of the bursting bolls of cotton.
Daily in the early mornings he is to be seen casting his eyes down the
pod-laden rows of cotton plants, to see if he can count a few ripe open
bolls as he stands at the head of a row. If this be so, he knows that
his harvest is close at hand, and his pickers must be ready at any
moment to begin what is certainly the most tedious and difficult work of
the plantation, namely, picking the raw cotton from the bursting bolls.
While the planter has been on the lookout in the fields, necessary and
important operations have been going on inside in the farm outbuildings.
Sacks and baskets which can most expeditiously aid in the removal of the
picked cotton from the field to the ginning factory are being got ready.
To suit the young and old, tall and small, weak and strong, different
sized bags and baskets are required, and after the marking and branding
of the same, they are ready for being put into use.
Now the picking of cotton is not at all an easy operation, long
continuous bending, a hot sun (for it is a rule scarcely ever broken
that cotton must not be plucked unless the sun is shining upon it), a
constantly increasing weight round the neck or on the arm, monotonous
picking of the cotton from the bolls without bringing away any of the
husk or leaf--all tend to make the work of the picker very trying and
tiresome. The plantation hands must be early at work, and while the day
is very young they are to be seen wending their way, ready to begin when
the sun makes its appearance. Often the clothes of the workers are quite
wet with the early morning dews. This is specially the case in September
and October. By ten o'clock a hot blazing sun streams down upon the
pickers as they diligently relieve the heavy-laden bushes of the white
fleecy load of cotton. As each picker fills his or her bag, it is
quickly emptied into a larger receptacle, and ultimately carried away to
the gin house, where it is desirable the cotton should be housed before
the night dews come on and consequently damage materially the cotton
which the pickers have been careful to pick while the sun was on it.
Mr. Lyman, in his book on the Cotton Culture in the States, says: "It
seems like very easy work to gather a material which shows itself in
such abundance as fairly to whiten the field, but let the sceptic or the
grumbler take a bag on his shoulders and start in between a couple of
rows. He will find upon taking hold of the first boll that the fibres
are quite firmly attached to the interior lining of the pod, and if he
makes a quick snatch, thinking to gather the entire lock, he will only
tear it in two, or leave considerable adhering to the pod. And yet he
may notice that an experienced picker will gather the cotton and lay his
fingers into the middle of the open pod with a certain expertness which
only practice gives, the effect of which is to clear the whole pod with
one movement of the hand."
Knowing how intensely monotonous and dreary the work of cotton picking
is, Mr. Lyman advises the planters to allow a very fair amount of
liberty so far as merrymaking is concerned, and he says on this point
that "though too much talking and singing must interfere with labour, it
is earnestly recommended to every cotton grower to take care to secure
cheerfulness if not hilarity in the field. Remember that it is a very
severe strain upon the patience and spirits of any one, to be urged to
rapid labour of precisely the same description day by day, week by week,
month by month. Let there be refreshments at the baskets, a dish of hot
coffee in a cool morning, or a pail of buttermilk in a hot afternoon, or
a tub of sweetened water, or a basket of apples."
As a rule the cotton gathered on one farm, which has, generally
speaking, had something like uniformity in method of cultivation, will
produce cotton varying very little in quality and weight.
Hence on large farms there will be something like uniform quality of
cotton produced. It will, however, be clear to the general reader that
on the small farms of India, say where sufficient cannot be gathered on
one farm, or perhaps on a few farms, to make one bale, there will not be
that uniformity which is desirable, hence Indian cotton, especially of
the poorer types, varies a great deal more than the American varieties.
When the hands have gathered sufficient to fill the carts drawn in
America usually by mules, and in India by oxen, the cotton is taken to
houses in which the seeds are separated from the fibre. This process is
called "ginning."
It is astonishing to find how tenaciously the fibres cling to the seed
when an attempt is made to separate them. At first much loss was
occasioned because of the brutal methods employed, and now even with
very much more perfect machinery a good deal of the cotton fibre is
injured in the ginning process.
Image: FIG. 8.--Indian women with roller gin.
At present, most of the cotton produced in various parts of the world is
ginned by machinery, though in India and China foot gins and other
primitive types are still employed.
It should be stated that where a large production of cotton is desired
the foot gin or even what is known as the "Churka gin" (which consists
of a couple of rollers turned by hand) is never employed. Only a few
pounds a day of cotton can be separated from the seeds when this method
is adopted.
The following extract from a lecture by the late Sir Benjamin Dobson
will be of interest here, as showing what is done at an American
ginnery:
"The farmer brings the cotton to the mill in a waggon, with mules or
oxen attached; the cotton is weighed, and then thrown out of the waggon
into a hopper alongside. From this hopper it is taken by an elevator, or
lift, either pneumatic or mechanical, and raised to the third story of
the ginning factory. There it is delivered into another part of the room
until required. When the cotton is to be ginned it is brought by rakes
along the floor to an open sort of hopper or trunk, and from here
conveyed to the gins below by travelling lattices.
"In the factory of which I am speaking there were six gins, all of them
saw-gins. Each gin was provided with a hopper of its own, and the
attendant, when any hopper was full, could either divert the feed to
some other gin, as he required, or stop it altogether. The gins produced
from 300 pounds to 350 pounds per hour. The cotton is dropped from the
condenser, in front of the gin, upon the floor close to the baling
press, into which it is raked by the attendant and baled loosely, but
only temporarily. The seed falls into a travelling lattice, and is
conducted to a straight cylindrical tube, in which works a screw. This
takes it some one hundred yards to the oil mill. There the seed is
dropped into what are known as 'linting' machines, and as much as
possible of the lint or fibre left upon the seed is removed.
"These linting machines--practically another sort of gin--deliver the
cotton or waste in a kind of roll, which is straightway put behind a
carding engine. Coming out of the carding engine it is made into
wadding by pasting it on cardboard paper, for filling in quilts,
petticoats, and for other purposes. When the seed has passed the linting
machine, it is taken, still by a lattice, to a hulling machine. This
machine will take off the outside shell, which is passed to one side,
while the green kernel of the seed goes down a shoot. The seed fills
certain receptacles placed in the oil press, and is submitted to a
hydraulic press. The result is a clear and sweet oil, which I am
credibly informed is sold in England and other countries under the name
of 'olive oil.' The remains of the green kernel are then pressed into
what are termed cattle cakes, or oil cakes, for feeding cattle."
But the reader is probably asking, what is a gin like?
The illustration seen in Fig. 9 is a gin which goes by the name of the
"single-acting Macarthy gin," so called because it has only one
oscillating blade for removing the fibre from the seed. The back of the
machine is shown in the figure. This process at the best is a brutal
one, especially when certain gins are employed, but the one figured here
is considered to do little damage to the fibre when extracting the seed.
The gin shown in Fig. 9 is of simple construction, consisting of a large
leather roller about 40 inches in length and 5 in diameter. "The roller
is built up by means of solid washers, or in strips fastened on to wood,
against which is pressed a doctor knife.
"The cotton is thrown into a hopper, and, falling, is seized by the
friction of the leather and drawn between the doctor knife and the
leather surface. Whilst this is taking place, there is a beater knife
which is reciprocated at a considerable speed and which strikes the seed
attached to the cotton drawn away by the leather roller. The detached
seed will then fall through a grid provided for the purpose. A
single-action gin should produce about 30 pounds of cleaned cotton per
hour."
Image: FIG. 9.--Single-acting Macarthy gin.
Another gin which does considerable damage to fibre, especially if it be
over-fed, is still in use in the States. This was the invention of an
American named Eli Whitney, and has been named a "saw-gin."
If the reader can imagine a number of circular saws (such as are to be
seen in a wood-sawing mill) placed nearly together on a shaft to form an
almost continuous roller, he will have a good idea of what the chief
part of a saw-gin is like.
As the cotton is fed to the machine, the saws seize it and strip the
cotton from the seeds, which fall through grids placed below the saws.
The cotton is afterward stripped from the saws themselves by means of a
quickly revolving brush which turns in the opposite direction to the
saws. This gin is best suited to short stapled cottons, especially such
as are grown in the States. For the longer fibred cotton this gin is not
well adapted, much injury resulting to the cotton treated by it.
After the cotton is ginned, it is gathered into bundles and roughly
baled. When a sufficient quantity has been so treated, it is carried to
the "compressors," where the cotton undergoes great reduction in bulk as
a result of the enormous pressure to which it is subjected.
For the general reader it will scarcely be necessary or wise to describe
a "cotton press" in detail. Let it suffice to say that by means of a
series of levers--in the Morse Press seven are used--tremendous pressure
can be obtained. Thus for every 1 pound pressure of steam generated
there will be seven times that pressure, if seven levers are used. When
200 pounds pressure of steam is up, there will be 1400 pounds pressure
per inch on the cotton. So great is the pressure exerted that a bundle
of cotton coming to the press from the ginnery, 4 feet in depth, is
reduced to 7 inches when drawn from the compressor. While in the press
iron bands are put round the cotton, and readers will have frequently
seen cotton on its way to the mills having these iron bands round it.
The following table shows the number of bands which are found on bales
coming to England from cotton-growing countries:--
No. of bands. Weight in lbs.
American bale 6 or 7 500
Egyptian " 11 700
Indian " 13 390
Turkish " 4 250-325
American Cylindrical bale -- 420-430
Brazilian -- 175-220
Within the last few years an entirely new industry has been started in
some of the Southern States of America.
Up to recently the bales sent to European countries from America were
all of the same type as shown by the centre bale in Fig. 10.
Image: FIG. 10.--Bales from various cotton-growing countries.
Now a vast quantity of cotton is being baled in the form as shown in
Fig. 11, and what are known as cylindrical bales are being exported in
large numbers. In the "Round Bale" Circular of the American Cotton
Company, it is stated that from the 21st November, 1896, to January
2nd, 1897, no less than 1443 round bales were turned out of the factory
at Waco in Texas. The total weight of these bales was 614,832 pounds,
giving an average of 426 pounds per bale.
By means of a press the cotton is rolled into the form as shown in the
illustration. The press makes a bale 4 feet long and 2 feet in diameter
and weighs over 35 pounds per cubic foot or 50 per cent. denser than the
bale made under the system as shown in Fig. 10.
Image: FIG. 11.--Cylindrical rolls of cotton.
It is claimed for this new system that the regularity of the size of the
bale, 4 x 2 feet, makes it pack much closer than the irregular
turtle-backed bales as usually made on the old system.
Under the new style the cotton is pressed gradually and not all at once.
For this reason it is claimed that the fibre is not injured and the
cotton arrives at the mill with the fibre in as good condition as when
it left the gins.
"Bagging and ties are entirely dispensed with, as the air is pressed out
of the cotton and it has no tendency to expand again, and the covering
needed is only sufficient to keep the cotton clean."
From a number of experiments it is proved that the "round bale" is both
fireproof and water proof.
From the illustration of the round bale shown in Fig. 11, it will be
seen how readily this new form of bale lends itself to greatly aiding
the operatives in the opening processes in the mill. The roll which lies
on the floor like a roll of carpet could be so fixed that the cotton
could be fed to the opener by being unrolled as shown in the
illustration.
At present the round bale system is not popular and it remains to be
seen whether it will commend itself to cotton spinners.
CHAPTER VI.
MANIPULATION OF COTTON IN OPENING, SCUTCHING, CARDING, DRAWING, AND
FLY-FRAME MACHINES.
Before attempting to give the readers of this story an insight into the
various operations through which cotton is made to pass, it may be
advisable to briefly enumerate them first.
On the field there are the operations of collecting and ginning, that
is, separating the raw cotton from the seeds. To the stranger it is very
astonishing that as many as 66 to 75 pounds of seed are got from every
100 pounds of seed cotton gathered. Then in or near the cotton field
the process of baling is carried out. Thus there are collecting, ginning
and baling, as preliminary processes.
When the cotton arrives in bales at the mill (see Fig. 10), in which it
is to be cleaned, opened and spun, it is first weighed and a record
kept.
In the mill the first real operation is the taking of quantities of
cotton from different bales of cotton from various countries, or
different grades from the same country, and "mixing" so as to secure a
greater uniformity in the quality of the yarn produced. In this process
it is now the common practice to use a machine termed the "Bale
Breaker," or "Cotton Puller."
The second important process carried out in the mill is "opening." By
this the matted masses of cotton fibres are to a great extent opened
out, and a large percentage of the heavy impurities, such as sand,
shell, and leaf, fall out by their own weight. It is now also usual at
this stage to form the cotton into a large roll or sheet called the
"lap."
Immediately following the "opening" comes "scutching," which is merely a
continuation of the work performed by the "opener," but done in such a
way that greater attention is bestowed upon the production of an even
sheet or "lap" of cotton.
The cotton at this stage is practically in the same condition as it was
when first gathered from the tree in the plantation.
=Carding= comes next in order, and it should be observed that this is one
of the most beautiful and instructive operations carried on in the
mill.
The process of opening out the cotton is continued in this operation to
such an extent that the fibres are practically _individually separated_,
and while in this condition very fine impurities are removed, and many
of the short and unripe fibres which are always more or less present are
removed. Before leaving the machine the fibres are gathered together
again in a most wonderful manner and converted into a "sliver," which
for all the world looks like a rope of cotton, a little less than an
inch in diameter.
In most mills "drawing" succeeds "carding," this operation having for
its object (1) the doubling together of four to eight slivers from the
card and attenuating them to the dimension of one so as to secure
greater uniformity in diameter. (2) The reduction of the crossed and
entangled fibres from the card into parallel or side by side order.
After "drawing," the cotton is brought to and sent through a series of
machines termed "Bobbin and Fly Frames." There are usually three of
these machines for the cotton to pass through, to which are given the
names of "Slubbing," "Intermediate," and "Roving" Frames.
Their duties are to carry on the operation of making the sliver of
cotton finer or thinner until it is ready for the final process of
spinning, and incidentally to add to the uniformity and cleanliness of
the thread of cotton.
The final process of spinning is chiefly performed on one of two
machines, the "Mule" and the "Ring Frame," either of which makes a
thread largely used without further treatment in a spinning mill.
Sometimes, however, the thread is further treated by such operations as
doubling, reeling, gassing, etc. It should be added that in the
production of the finest and best yarns an important process is gone
through, named "combing."
This may be defined as a continuation of the carding process already
named before to a much more perfect degree. The chief object is to
extract all fibres below a certain required length, and reject them as
waste. There is as much of this latter made at this stage of manufacture
as that made by all the other machines put together, that is, about 17
per cent. Of course it will be readily seen that this is a costly
operation and is limited entirely to the production of the very best and
finest yarns.
This process necessitates the employment of a machine called a "Sliver
Lap" and sometimes a "Ribbon Lap Machine" in order to put the slivers
from the carding engine into a small lap suitable for the "creel" of the
"Combing Machine."
=Cotton Mixing and the Bale Breaker.=--As before stated, the first
operation in the mill is the opening out of bales of raw material and
making a "mixing." Of course the weight of the bale is ascertained
before it is opened.
All varieties of cotton vary in their commercial properties, this
variation being due to a number of causes. From a commercial value point
of view, there is an enormous difference between the very best and the
very worst cottons; so much so, indeed, that they are never blended
together. Between these two extremes there is a well-graded number of
varieties and classifications of cotton, and some approximate so closely
to others in quality, that they are often blended together in the
"mixing."
Further than this, the same class of cotton often varies in spinning
qualities from a number of circumstances that need not here be named.
This is, however, an additional reason why cotton from various bales
should be blended together in order to secure uniformity.
A cotton "mixing" may be described as a kind of "stack," resembling
somewhat the haystack of the farm yards.
The method usually pursued in making this mixing is somewhat as
follows:--A portion of cotton from a certain bale is taken off and
spread over a given area of floor space. Then a similar portion from
another bale is placed over the first layer already lying on the floor.
The same operation is followed with a third and fourth layer from
different bales, and so on with as many bales as the management consider
there are variations in quality, the larger the mixing the better for
securing uniformity of yarn.
When it is desired to use the cotton, it should be pulled down
vertically from the face of the "mixing," so as to secure a fair portion
from each bale composing the mixture. Before spreading the cotton out it
is usually pulled into pieces of moderate size by the hands of the
operative.
During recent years it has become the very general practice to use a
small machine called the "Bale Breaker" or "Cotton Puller," and to have
also working in conjunction with this machine long travelling "lattices"
called "mixing lattices." These perform the operation of "pulling" and
"mixing" the cotton much more quickly and effectively than by hand
labour.
The "Cotton Puller" or "Bale Breaker" (see Fig. 12) simply consists, in
its most useful form, of four pairs of coarsely fluted or spiked
rollers of about 6 inches diameter with a feed apron or lattice such as
is shown in the illustration.
Image: FIG. 12.--Bale breaker or puller.
The method adopted with the "Bale Breaker" and "mixing lattices" in use
is as follows:--
The various bales of cotton intended for "mixing" are placed very near
to the feed apron of the Bale Breaker, and a layer from each bale in
succession is placed on the apron. The latter feeds the cotton at a slow
rate to the revolving rollers of the machine, and as each pair of top
and bottom rollers that the cotton meets is revolving more rapidly than
the preceding pair, the result is a pulling asunder of the cotton by the
rollers, into much smaller pieces, quite suitable for the next machine.
The Bale Breaker delivers the cotton upon long travelling aprons of
lattice work, which carry the cotton away and deposit it upon any
desired portion of the floor to form the "mixing."
=Opening.=--The name of the next process, viz., "opening," has been given
it because its primary function is "to open" out the cotton to such an
extent that the greater bulk of the seed, leaf, sand, and dust is
readily extracted. The details of this machine and indeed practically of
all machines used in cotton spinning, vary so much with different
makers, that it would be utterly out of place to deal with them here, so
that it may be said at once, that all such points are entirely omitted
from this treatment of the subject.
The essential and principal portions of the machines are practically
identical for all makers, and it is with these only that it is proposed
to deal, taking in all cases the best present-day practice.
The opener, then, is a very powerful machine, being in fact the most
powerful used in cotton spinning, and the most important feature of the
machine is the employment of a strong beater, to which is fitted a large
number of iron or steel knives or spikes. These beat down the cotton and
open it at a terrific rate, the beater having a surface speed of perhaps
4000 feet a minute. Various fans, rollers, and other parts are employed
to feed the cotton to the beater, and to take it away again after
treatment. It will perhaps best serve the purpose of our readers if the
passage of the cotton be described through an opener of the most modern
and approved construction, dealing with the subject in non-technical
terms.
With this object in view, take for example what is termed "The Double
Cotton Opener" with "Hopper Feed Attachment." This machine is shown in
Fig. 13.
Image: FIG. 13.--"Double opener" with "hopper feed."
The Hopper Feed is about the most recent improvement of any magnitude
generally adopted in cotton spinning mills. It is an attachment to the
initial or feed end of an opener with the object of feeding the cotton
more cheaply and effectively than it can be done by hand.
It may be said to consist of a large iron feed box, into which the
cotton is passed in considerable quantities at one time. At the bottom
of the feed box, or hopper, is a travelling apron which carries the
cotton forward, so as to be brought within the action of steel pins in
an inclined travelling apron or lattice. This latter carries the cotton
upwards, and special mechanism is provided in the shape of what is
termed an "Evener roller," to prevent too much cotton going forward at
once.
The cotton that passes over the top of the inclined lattice or apron is
stripped off by what is denominated the stripping roller, and is then
deposited on the feed apron of the opener, where formerly it was placed
by hand.
It may be said that one man can feed two machines with Hopper Feeds as
against one without them, and in the best makes the work is done more
effectively.
The feed lattice of the opener carries the cotton along to the feed
rollers, which project it forward into the path of the large beater. It
is here that the opening and cleaning actions are chiefly performed.
The strong knives or spikes of the beater break the cotton into very
small portions indeed, and dash it against "cleaning bars" or "grate
bars" specially arranged and constructed. Through the interstices of
these bars much of the now loosened seed and dirt present in the cotton
passes into a suitable receptacle, which is afterward cleaned out at
regular intervals.
The opened and cleaned cotton is taken away from the action of the
beater by an air current produced by a powerful fan. This latter creates
a partial vacuum in the beater chamber by blowing the air out of certain
air exit trunks specially provided. To supply this partial vacuum
afresh, air can only be obtained from the beater chamber, and the air
current thus induced, takes the cotton along with it, and deposits it in
the form of a sheet upon what are termed "cages" or "sieve cylinders."
These are hollow cylinders of iron or zinc perforated with a very large
number of small holes through which the air rushes, leaving the cotton,
as it were, plastered on the outer surfaces of the cages.
It is usual to have a pair of these cages, working one over the other
like the pair of rollers in a wringing machine.
The cotton now passes between two pairs of small guide rollers, and is
fed by the second pair to a second beater, but of very different
construction from the first one.
This consists of two or three iron or steel blades extending the full
width of the machine and carried by specially constructed arms from a
strong central shaft.
The edges of these beater blades are made somewhat sharp, and they
strike down the cotton from the feed roller at the rate of 2000 or more
blows per minute.
This of course carries the opening work of the cotton of the first
beater to a still further degree, and as in this case the cotton is also
struck down upon "beater bars" or cleaning bars, a further quantity of
loosened impurities passes through the bars. As before, another powerful
fan creates an air current by which the cotton is carried away from the
beater and placed upon a pair of "Cages." From this point the cotton is
conducted in the form of a sheet between four heavy calender or
compression rollers, the rollers being superimposed over each other, and
the cotton receiving three compressions in its passage.
This makes a much more solid and tractable sheet of cotton, and it is
now simply wound upon an iron roller in the form of a roll of cotton
termed a "lap," being now ready for the subsequent process, as shown in
the illustration (Fig. 14).
Image: FIG. 14.--Scutching machine with "lap" at the back.
=Scutching.=--This term obviously means beating, and the process itself is
simply a repetition of the opening and cleaning properties of the
opener, these objects being attained to a greater degree of perfection.
For the best classes of cotton it is often deemed sufficient to pass it
through the opener alone, and then to immediately transfer the lap to
the process of carding. For some cottons it is the practice to pass the
cotton through two scutchers in addition to the opener, while in other
cases it is the practice to use one scutcher only in addition to the
opener.
In the scutcher it is the most common practice to take four laps from
the opener and to place them in a specially constructed creel and
resting on a travelling "lattice" or apron. By this they are slowly
unwound and the four sheets are laid one upon another and passed in one
combined sheet, through feed rollers, to a two or three bladed beater,
exactly like the second one described when treating upon the double
opener. Also, exactly in the same manner, a lap is formed ready for the
immediately succeeding process of carding. In the scutcher the doubling
of four laps together tends to produce a sheet of cotton more uniform in
thickness and weight than that from the opener. This object of equality
of lap is also invariably aided by what are termed Automatic Feed
Regulators, which regulate the weight of cotton given to the beater to
something like a continuous uniformity. The action is clearly seen in
the illustration.
=Carding.=--By many persons this is deemed to be the most important
operation in cotton spinning. Its several duties may be stated as
follows:--
1. The removal of a large proportion of any impurities, such as
broken leaf, seed and shell, that may have escaped the previous
processes. It may usually be deemed to be the final process of
cleansing.
2. To open out and disentangle the clusters of fibres into even
greater individualisation than existed when first picked, and to
leave them in such condition that the subsequent operations can
easily draw them out, and reduce them to parallel order.
3. The extraction of a good proportion of the short, broken and
unripe fibres, present more or less in all cottons grown, and
practically worthless from a manufacturing point of view.
4. The reduction of the heavy sheet or lap of cotton from the
scutcher, into a comparatively light and thin sliver. Ordinarily,
one yard of the lap put up behind the card weighs more than 100
times as heavy as the sliver delivered at the front of the card.
There are several varieties of Carding Engine, but in each case nearly
all the essential features are practically the same in one card as in
another. At the present time, the type of Carding Engine which has
practically superseded all others is denominated the "Revolving Flat
Card." This Card originated with Mr. Evan Leigh, of Manchester, and
after being in close competition with several other types has almost
driven them out of the market. Of course it has been considerably
improved by later inventors, and various machine makers have their own
technical peculiarities.
In the illustration seen in Fig. 15 there is conveyed an excellent idea
of the appearance of the heavy lap of cotton as it is placed behind the
Carding Engine, and of the manner in which the same cotton appears as a
"sliver" or soft strand of cotton as it issues from the front of the
same machine, and enters the cylindrical can into which it is passed,
and coiled into compact layers, suitable for withdrawal at the
immediately succeeding process.
Image: FIG. 15.--Two views of the carding engine: upper view, cotton
entering; lower view, cotton leaving.
In the main, the parts which operate upon the cotton fibres in their
passage through this machine consist of a number of cylinders or rollers
of various diameters, but practically equal in width. Some of these
rollers are merely to guide and conduct the cotton forward, but the more
important are literally bristling all over with a vast number of closely
set and finely drawn steel wire teeth, whose duty it is to open, and
comb out, and clean the fibers as they pass along.
To begin with, the "lap" or roll of cotton is placed behind the machine
so as to rest on a roller of 6 inches in diameter, which slowly unwinds
the lap at the rate of about 9 inches per minute, by frictional contact
therewith.
Here, it may be said that the width of this and other chief rollers and
cylindrical parts of the card may be about 38 inches or 40 inches wide,
there being a tendency to make present-day Carding Engines rather
narrower than formerly, in order to give greater strength to certain
parts. From the lap roller the sheet of cotton is conducted for about 8
inches over a smooth feed plate, and then it goes underneath a fluted
roller of 2-1/4 inches diameter, termed the feed roller, having
practically the same surface speed as the lap roller, or possibly a
small fraction more to keep the cotton lap tight.
At this stage the actual work of the Carding Engine may be said to
commence. While the feed roller and the feed plate hold the end of the
sheet of cotton and project it forward at the slow rate of 8 or 9 inches
per minute, this projecting end of the lap becomes subject to the action
of a powerful roller or beater termed the taker-in or licker-in.
The most recent and improved construction of this roller is termed the
Metallic Taker-in, and it is covered all over with strong steel teeth
shaped something like those of a saw. It is about 9 inches in diameter,
and its strong teeth strike the cotton down from the feed roller with a
surface speed of nearly 1000 feet per minute.
It is at this stage that the bulk of the heavier impurities still found
in the cotton are removed, as these fall through certain grids below the
taker-in immediately they are loosened from the retaining fibres by the
powerful teeth of the taker-in.
The great bulk of the cotton fibres, however, are retained by the teeth
of the taker-in and carried round the under side to a point where they
are exposed to the action of the central and most important part of
every Carding Engine, viz., the main "cylinder." The licker-in contains
about twenty-eight teeth per square inch, but the "cylinder" is the
first of the parts that the cotton arrives at, previously referred to as
being covered with a vast number of closely set steel wire teeth.
Just to convey an idea of this point to the uninitiated reader, it may
be said that it is quite common to have on the "cylinder" as many as 600
steel wire teeth in one square inch. For a cylinder 40 inches wide and
50 inches diameter, this works out to the vast number of over 3,800,000
steel wire teeth on one cylinder, each tooth being about 1/4 inch long,
and secured in a cloth or rubber foundation before the latter is wound
round the cylinder.
The steel teeth of the cylinder strip the fibres from the taker-in and
carry them in an upward direction, the surface speed of the cylinder
being over 2000 feet per minute.
Placed over the cylinder, and extending for nearly one-half of its
circumference, are what are technically known as the "flats."
These are narrow iron bars, each about 1-3/8 inches wide; each being
covered with steel wire teeth in the same manner as the cylinder; and
each extending right across the width of the cylinder, and resting on a
suitable bearing termed the "bend."
They are formed into an endless chain containing about 108 "flats," but
only about 44 of which are in actual work at one time; this endless
chain of flats being given a slow movement of about 3 inches per minute.
Here it may be said that the various working parts are set as close as
possible to each other without being in actual contact, the usual
distance being about 1/143rd of an inch determined by a specially
constructed gauge, in the hands of a skilled workman.
The steel teeth of the flats, being set very close to those of the
cylinder, catch hold of and retain a portion of the short warty fibres
and fine impurities that may be on the points of the cylinder teeth, the
amount of this reaching about 3 per cent. of the cotton passed through
the machine. In addition to this the teeth of the flats work against
those of the cylinder so as to exercise a combing action on the cotton
fibres.
Having passed the "flats," the cotton is deposited by the cylinder on
what is termed the doffer. This is a cylindrical body, exactly similar
to the main "cylinder" excepting that it is only about half the
diameter, say 24 inches. Its steel wire teeth are set in the opposite
way to those of the cylinder, and its surface speed is only about 75
feet per minute. These two circumstances acting together enable it to
take the cotton fibres from the main cylinder.
The operations of carding may now be said to be practically performed,
as the remaining operations have for their object the stripping,
collecting, and guiding of the cotton into a form suitable for the next
succeeding processes. The fleece of cotton is stripped from the doffer
by the "Doffer Comb," which is a thin bar of steel, having a serrated
under edge, and making about 1600 beats or strokes per minute. From this
point cotton is collected into the form of a loose rope or "sliver," and
passed first through a trumpet-shaped mouth, and then through a pair of
calender rollers about six inches wide and four inches in diameter.
Image: FIG. 16.--Lap, web, and sliver of cotton.
Finally, the sliver of cotton is carried upward, as shown in the
illustration (Fig. 15), and passed through special apparatus and
deposited into the can, also shown. This latter is about 10 inches in
diameter and 36 inches in length, and the whole arrangement for
depositing the cotton suitably into the can is denominated the "Coiler."
In the next illustration (Fig. 16) are shown three forms in which the
cotton is found before and after working by the Carding Engine. That to
the left is the lap as it enters, the middle figure is part of the web
as it comes from the doffer, and that to the right is part of a coil of
cotton from the can.
Such is a brief description of the most important of the preparatory
processes of cotton spinning. There are innumerable details involving
technical knowledge which fall outside the province of this story.
=Drawing Frames.=--It is a very common thing for a new beginner in the
study of cotton spinning to ask--what is the use of the drawing frame?
As a matter of fact, the unpractised eye cannot see any difference
between the sliver or soft rope of cotton as it reaches, the drawing
frame and as it leaves the frame.
The experienced eye of the practical man can, however, detect a
wonderful difference.
It has been shown that the immediately preceding operation of
carding--amongst other things--reduces the heavy lap into a
comparatively thin light sliver; thus advancing with one great stride a
long way toward the production of the long fine thread of yarn ready for
the market.
No such difference can be perceived in the sliver at the drawing frame.
This machine is practically devoted to improving the thread finally
made in two distinct and important ways.
1. The fibres of cotton in the sliver, as they leave the Carding Engine,
are in a very crossed and entangled condition, not at all suited to the
production of a strong yarn by the usual processes of cotton spinning.
The first duty of the drawing frame may be said, therefore, to be the
laying of the fibres in parallel order to one another, by the action of
the drawing rollers.
2. The sliver of cotton, as it leaves the card, is by no means
sufficiently uniform in weight per yard for the production of a uniform
and strong finished thread. It will easily be conceived by the readers
of this story of the cotton plant that the strength of any thread is
only that of its weakest portions.
Take a rope intended to hold a heavy weight suspended at its lower end,
and assume it to be made of the best material and stoutest substance,
but to contain one very weak place in it; this rope would practically be
useless, because the strength of the rope would only be that of the
weakest part.
The drawing machine in cotton spinning aims at removing the weak places
in cotton thread, thus making the real strength of the thread vastly
greater than it would otherwise be.
The method by which these important objects are attained may be briefly
explained as follows:--
From four to eight, but most usually six, cans of sliver from the
previous machine are placed behind the frame, and the ends of the
slivers conducted over special mechanism within the range of action of
four pairs of drawing rollers. This passage of the cotton is shown very
clearly in Fig. 17.
The top rollers are made of cast iron, covered with soft and highly
finished leather made from sheepskins, the object of this being to cause
the rollers to have a firm grip of the cotton fibres, without at the
same time injuring them. The bottom rollers are of iron or steel, made
with longitudinal flutes or grooves, in order to bite the cotton fibres
firmly on the leathers of the top rollers. In order to assist the
rollers in maintaining a firm grip of the fibres the top rollers are
held down by somewhat heavy weights.
The action of the drawing rollers will be adequately discussed later in
this story, when dealing with the inventions of Lewis Paul and Sir
Richard Arkwright, and need not be enlarged upon at this stage.
It will be sufficient, therefore, to say that, assuming that six slivers
are put up together at the back of the frame, the "draft" or amount of
drawing-out between the first and second pairs of rollers the cotton
comes to, may be about 1.3, between the second and third pairs 1.8, and
between the third and fourth pairs 2.6. These three multiplied together
give a total draft of slightly over 6.
In other words, assuming that 1 inch of cotton be passed through the
first pair of rollers, the second pair will immediately draw it out into
1.3 inches; the third pair will draw out the same portion of cotton into
1.3 × 1.8 inches = 2.34 inches, and the fourth or last pair of rollers
will draw out the same portion of cotton into 2.34 × 2.6 inches = 6.084.
Image: FIG. 17.--Drawing frame showing eight slivers entering and one
leaving the machine.
The six slivers put up at the back are therefore drawn out or
attenuated to the dimensions of one by the rollers, and then at the
delivery side of the machine the six slivers are united into one sliver,
and arranged in beautiful order inside a can exactly as described for
the Carding Engine.
Now it is in the doubling together and again drawing-out of the slivers
of cotton that the two objects of making the fibres parallel and the
slivers uniform are effected.
In the first place, even the uninitiated readers of this story may
conceive that the combining of six slivers will naturally cause any
extra thick or thin places in any of the individual slivers to become
much reduced in extent by falling along with correct diameters of the
other five slivers; and experience proves that such is the actual fact.
In this way the slivers, or soft untwisted ropes of cotton, are made
uniform.
It is perhaps not so easy to see how it is that drawing rollers make the
fibres of cotton parallel. As a matter of fact, it may be said that as
each pair of rollers projects the fibres forward, the next pair of
rollers takes hold of the fibres and draws their front extremities
forward more rapidly than the other pair will let the back extremities
of the same fibres pass forward. It is this action often repeated that
draws the fibres straight, or in other words, reduces them to a
condition in which they are parallel to each other.
It is the usual practice to pass each portion of cotton through three
separate frames in this manner, in immediate and rapid succession. The
"slivers" or ropes of cotton made at the front of the first drawing
frame, would be placed in their cans behind a second drawing frame and
the exact process just described would be repeated. The same identical
process would usually be performed yet a third time in order to secure
the required objects with what is considered a sufficient degree of
perfection.
After this the cotton is usually deemed to be quite ready for the
immediately succeeding process of "slubbing."
=Bobbin and Fly Frames.=--The series of machines now to be dealt with, are
distinguished more for their complicated mechanism in putting twist into
the attenuated cotton and in winding it upon bobbins in suitable form
for the immediately succeeding process, than for the action of the parts
upon the cotton so as to render it better fitted for the production of
strong, fine yarn.
The manner in which these machines perform a part in the actual
production of a thread or yarn is practically a repetition of the work
of the drawing frame, with the great difference that the strand or thin
rope of cotton leaves each machine of the series in a thinner and longer
condition than when it arrived.
This attenuation of the cotton roving is indeed the chief desideratum
that bobbin and fly frames aim at, although they assist in making the
strand of cotton more uniform by carrying still further to a limited
extent the doubling principle so extensively utilised at the drawing
frames.
The basis of the operations are again the drawing rollers, brought to
such a state of perfection by Richard Arkwright, and here it may be
useful to remind the readers of this story how superior in this respect
of general adaption Arkwright's method of spinning was to that of
Hargreaves'. It will be remembered that the latter named inventor
utilised a travelling carriage, for drawing the cotton finer, while the
former performed the same work by drawing rollers.
Although the travelling carriage principle was at one time somewhat
largely utilised in preparing the rovings for the final process of
spinning, it has long since entirely given way before the superior
merits and adaptability of the drawing roller principle; and it is now
this latter method which is universally employed.
It usually takes three bobbin and fly frames to make up what may be
called a "set," each portion of the cotton roving passing through the
three machines in succession. For low classes of yarn only two of these
machines may be used, while for the finest yarns there are sometimes
four used to make up the "set."
Of course, all the readers of this story must understand that in an
ordinary-sized cotton spinning mill there will be many sets of these
machines, just as there will be a large number of "carding engines" and
"drawing frames," and mules. Bale brakers, openers and scutchers are so
very productive that only a limited number is required as compared with
the other machines already named.
Those of our readers who have studied the details of Arkwright's
spinning frame, described in another chapter in this book, and have
understood those details, will have a clear comprehension of the action
of the parts and leading mechanical principles concerned in the
operations of a modern bobbin and fly frame. Certainly there are some of
the most difficult problems of cotton spinning involved in the mechanism
of these machines, but these points are so highly technical that it is
not intended to introduce them here.
The "set" of machines just named are usually known by the names
"Slubber," "Intermediate or Second Slubber," and "Roving" Frames.
Nearly all the operations and mechanisms involved in one are almost
identical in the others, so that a description of one only in the set is
necessary, merely explaining that the parts of each machine the cotton
comes to in the latter two of the set are smaller and more finely set
than the corresponding parts of the immediately preceding machine.
Taking the Intermediate frame as a basis, the operation may be described
as follows:--The bobbins formed at the slubbing frame are put in the
creel of the Intermediate, as shown in the photograph (Fig. 18), each
bobbin resting on a wooden skewer or peg which will easily rotate.
In order to increase the uniformity of the roving or strand of cotton,
the ends from two of the slubbing rovings are conducted together through
the rollers of the machine.
There are three pairs of these rollers, acting on the cotton in every
way just as described for the drawing frame.
Although two rovings are put together behind the rollers, yet the
"draft" or drawing-out power of the rollers is such, that the roving
that issues from the front of the rollers is about three times as thin
as each individual roving put up behind the rollers. This drawing-out
action of the rollers need not be further dilated upon at this stage.
The points which demand some little attention at our hands, are the
methods and mechanism involved in twisting the attenuated roving, and
winding it upon bobbins or spools in suitable form for the next process.
Image: FIG. 18.--Intermediate frame (bobbin and fly frame).
As regards twisting of the roving it must be distinctly understood that
when the attenuated strand of cotton issues from the rollers of the
first bobbin and fly frame, it has become so thin and weak that it can
no longer withstand the requisite handling without being seriously
damaged. Hence the introduction of "Twist," which is by far the most
important strength-producing factor or principle entering into the
composition of cotton roving and yarn.
Without twist there would be no cotton factories, no cotton goods; none
of the splendid and gigantic buildings of one description or another
which are found so plentifully intermingled with the dwellings and
factories of large cotton manufacturing towns!
In a sense it is to this all-powerful factor of "twist" that all these
buildings owe their existence, since it would be practically impossible
to make a thread from cotton fibres without the assistance of "twist" to
make the fibres adhere to each other. Hence there could be none of that
wealth which has caused the erection of these buildings.
This is true in a double sense, since we have both the natural twist of
the cotton fibres and the artificial twist introduced at the latter
processes of cotton spinning, in order to make individual fibres and
aggregations of fibres adhere to each other. What is termed the natural
twist of the fibres may average in good cottons upwards of 180 twists
per inch, while the twists per inch put into the finished threads of
yarn from those fibres may vary, say, between 20 and 30 twists per
inch.
In all the fly frames, therefore, this artificial twist is invariably
and necessarily put into the roving. As the cotton leaves the front or
delivery rollers, each strand descends to a bobbin of from 8 to 12
inches long, upon which it is wound by special mechanism. As in
Arkwright's frame, this bobbin is placed loosely upon a vertical
"spindle," and upon the latter is fitted a "flyer," whose duty it is to
guide the cotton upon the bobbin.
The primary duty of the spindle is to insert the "twist" which has been
shown to be so necessary to give sufficient strength to the roving.
Let any reader of this story hold a piece of soft stuff in one hand
while with the other hand he rotates or twists the roving and he will
have an idea of the method and effect of twisting (see Fig. 19).
Without going into minute details we may say that the practical effect
is that, while the roving is held firmly by the rollers, it is twisted
by means of its connection at the other end to the rotating bobbin,
spindle and flyer. The twist runs right from the spindle along the 6 to
12 inches of cotton that may extend from the spindle top to the "nip" of
the rollers, thus imparting the requisite strength to the roving as it
issues from the rollers. The mechanism for revolving the spindles is by
no means difficult to understand, simply consisting of a number of
shafts and wheels revolved at a constant, definite and regulated speed
per minute.
Not only is it necessary to provide special apparatus for twisting the
cotton at the bobbin and fly frames, but also very complicated and
highly ingenious mechanism for winding the attenuated cotton in suitable
form upon the bobbins. Indeed it is with this very mechanism that some
of the most difficult problems of cotton spinning machinery are
associated.
Although the cotton at this stage is strengthened by twist, yet it is
extremely inadvisable and practically inadmissible to insert more than
from 1 to about 4 twists per inch at any of these machines, so that at
the best the rovings are still very weak.
If too much twist were inserted at any stage, the drawing rollers of the
immediately succeeding machine could not carry on the attenuating
process satisfactorily.
This winding problem was so difficult that it absolutely baffled the
ingenuity of Arkwright and his contemporaries and immediate successors,
and it was not until about 1825 that the difficulties were solved by the
invention of the differential winding motion by Mr. Holdsworth, a
well-known Manchester spinner, whose successors are still eminent master
cotton spinners.
This winding motion is still more extensively used than any other,
although it may be said that quite recently several new motions have
been more or less adopted, whose design is to displace Holdsworth's
motion by performing the same work in a rather more satisfactory manner.
In these pages no attempt whatever will be made to give a technical
explanation of the mechanism of the winding motion. It may be said that
it was a special application of the Sun and Planet motion originally
utilised by Watt in his Steam Engine, for obtaining a rotary motion of
his fly-wheel.
Sufficient be it to say that this "Differential Motion," acting in
conjunction with what are termed "Cone drums," imparts a varying motion
to the bobbins upon which the cotton is wound, in such a manner that the
rate of winding is kept practically constant throughout the formation of
the bobbins of roving, although the diameters of the latter are
constantly increasing.
The spindles and bobbins always rotate in the same direction, but while
the revolutions per minute of the spindles are constant, so as to keep
the twist uniform, those of the bobbins are always varying, in order to
compensate for their increasing diameters or thicknesses of the bobbins.
The delivery of cotton from the rollers is also constant and the
mechanism required to operate them is exceedingly simple.
A vast number of details could easily be added respecting the operations
performed by the bobbin and fly frames, but further treatment is deemed
unnecessary in this story.
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SPINNING, AND EARLY INVENTORS.
There can be no better illustration of the truth of the old saying, that
"Necessity is the mother of invention," than to read the early history
of the cotton manufacture, and the difficulties under which the pioneers
of England's greatest industry laboured.
The middle years of the eighteenth century act as the watershed between
the old and the new in cotton manufacture, for up to 1760 the same type
of machinery was found in England which had existed in India for
centuries. But a change was coming, and as a greater demand arose for
cotton goods, it became absolutely necessary to discover some better way
of manipulating cotton, in order to get off a greater production.
"When inventors fail in their projects, no one pities them; when they
succeed, persecution, envy, and jealousy are their reward." So says
Baines, and it would appear, from reference to the history of the cotton
industry, to be only too true. Certain it is, that the early inventors
of the machinery for improving cotton spinning did not reap the
advantages which their labours and inventions entitled them to. They
ploughed and sowed, but others reaped.
Among the most celebrated of the early inventors, the following stand
out in great prominence--John Kay, Lewis Paul, John Wyatt, Richard
Arkwright, Thomas Highs, James Hargreaves, and Samuel Crompton.
When and how spinning originated no one can say, though it can be traced
back through many, many centuries. Several nations claim to have been
the first to discover the art, but when asked for proof the initial
stages are greatly obscured by impenetrable clouds of mystery.
For example, the Egyptians credit the goddess Isis with the discovery,
the Greeks Minerva, the Chinese the Emperor Yao. It is related of
Hercules, that, when in love with Omphale, he debased himself by taking
the spindle and spinning a thread at her feet. This form of work was
considered to belong only to women, and by spinning for her in this
position he was thought to have greatly humiliated himself.
If Hercules were back again, and could stand between two modern mules
and see the men and boys engaged in spinning hundreds of threads _at
once_, no doubt he would wonder, just as we do to-day at his fabled
feats.
It is not difficult to imagine that very early on in the world's history
the twisting together of strands of wool and cotton would force itself
upon the attention of the ancients. If the reader will take a little
cotton wool in the left hand and by means of the first finger and thumb
of the right take a few cotton fibres and gently twist them together and
at the same time draw the thread formed outwards, it will be seen how
very easy it is (from the nature of the cotton) to form a continuous
thread.
What would very soon suggest itself would be something to which the
thread, when twisted, could be fastened and, according to Mr. Marsden
(who supposes the first spinner to have been a shepherd boy), a twig
which was close at hand would be the very thing to which he could attach
his twisted fibres. He also supposes that, having spun a short length,
the twig by accident was allowed to dangle and immediately to untwist by
spinning round in the reverse way, and ultimately fall to the ground.
He further adds, the boy would argue to himself "that if this revolving
twig could take the twist out by a reversion of its movements, it could
be made to put it in." This would be the first spinning spindle. The
explanation is probably not very far wide of the mark.
A weighted twig or spindle would next be used, and as each length of
spun thread was finished, it would be wound on to the spindle and
fastened.
As it would be extremely awkward to work the fibre up without a proper
supply, a bundle of this was fastened to the end of a stick and carried
most probably under the left arm, leaving the right hand free, or in the
belt, much in the same way as is done in some country districts in the
North of Europe to-day.
The modern name for this stick is _Distaff_, a word which is derived
from the Low German--_diesse_, the bunch of flax on a distaff, and
_staff_. Originally it would be the staff on which the tow or flax was
fastened, and from which the thread was drawn. The modern representative
of the spindle with the twisted thread wound on it is the "_cop_," and
the intermittent actions of first putting _twist_ in the thread and then
_winding_ on the spindle, have their exact counterparts on the latest of
the self-acting mules of to-day.
Image: FIG. 19.--Twist put in cotton by the hand.
It may be interesting to note that St. Distaff's Day is January 7th,
the day after the Epiphany, a church festival celebrated in
commemoration of the visit of the Wise Men of the East to Bethlehem. As
this marks the end of the Christmas festival, work with the distaff was
commenced, hence the name, St. Distaff's Day.
It is also called "Rock Day," rock being another name for distaff.
"Rocking Day" in Scotland was a feasting day when friends and neighbours
met together in the early days of the New Year, to celebrate the end of
the Christmastide festival.
The reign of Henry VII. is said to have witnessed the introduction into
England of the spindle and distaff.
In process of time, the suspended spindle was superseded by one which
was driven by mechanical means. Over and over again, the spindle, as it
lay upon the floor, must have suggested that it could be made to work in
that position, viz., horizontal. And so comes now a contrivance for
holding the spindle in this position.
Mr. Baines, in his history of the cotton manufacture, gives a figure of
an old Hindoo spinning wheel, and it is extremely likely that this very
form of machine was the forerunner of the type which later on found its
way into Europe. At the beginning of the sixteenth century what was
known as the Jersey wheel came into common use. This machine is shown in
Fig. 20.
Lying to the left hand of the woman in the illustration is a hand card.
This consisted of square board with a handle, and was covered by fine
wire driven in, so as to make what was really a wire brush. By means of
this, the spinner was enabled to prepare her cotton, and she did with
it (though not nearly so well) what is done by the Carding Engine of
to-day, viz., fully opened out the fibres of cotton ready for spinning.
Having taken the cotton from the hand cards, she produced at first a
very thick thread which was called a _roving_. This she wound on a
spindle, which was afterwards treated again on the wheel a second time,
and drawn out still more, and then having the twist put in, it was made
much thinner into so-called yarn. Only one thread could by this method
be dealt with at a time by one person, but the main operations carried
out on the old spinning wheel have their exact reproductions on the mule
of to-day, viz.:--Drawing, Twisting and Winding.
Image: FIG. 20.--Jersey spinning wheel (after Baines).
But still the process of evolution went on, and following quickly on
the heels of the Jersey wheel is the Saxony or Leipsic wheel. Here for
the first time is seen the combination of spindle, flyer and bobbin.
This machine was so arranged that by means of two grooved wheels of
different diameters, but both driven by the large wheel similar to the
one in the Jersey wheel, and which was operated by the spinner, two
speeds were obtained. The bobbin was attached to the smaller, and the
spindle, to which was fastened the flyer or "Twister," was driven by the
larger of two wheels.
In this form of spinning machine, then, there were the following
operations performed:--
By the spindle and flyer both revolving at the same velocity, the thread
was attenuated and twisted as it was carried to the bobbin. This latter
was, as already named, driven by the smaller of the two wheels and had a
motion all its own, though much quicker than that of the spindle. In
this way a bobbin of yarn was built up, and the Saxony wheel no doubt
gave many fruitful ideas to the inventors who appeared later on, and
who, by reason of their research and experiment, evolved the fly frames
of to-day; this was notably so in the case of Arkwright.
There had been very great opposition to the introduction of cotton goods
into England by manufacturers and others interested in the wool and
fustian trade, and matters even got so bad that the British Parliament
was foolish enough to actually pass an Act in 1720, prohibiting "the use
or wear in Great Britain, in any garment or apparel whatsoever, of any
printed, painted, stained, or dyed _calico_, under the penalty of
forfeiting to the informer the sum of £5."
Just as though this was not sufficiently severe, it was also enacted
that persons using printed or dyed calico "in or about any bed, chair,
cushion, window-curtain, or any other sort of household stuff or
furniture," would be fined £20, and a like amount was to be paid by
those who sold the stuff.
There can be no doubt whatever, that this Act was designed to strike a
death-blow at the cotton industry, which at this time was beginning to
make itself felt in the commerce of the country. A curious exception
should be mentioned here. Calico, which was all blue, was exempted from
the provisions of this Act, as were also muslins, fustians and
neck-ties. However, in 1736 this iniquitous piece of legislation was
somewhat relaxed, and Parliament was good enough to decree in the year
just named that it would be lawful for anyone to wear "any sort of stuff
made of linen yarn and cotton wool manufactured and printed or painted
with any colour or colours within the kingdom of Great Britain, provided
that the warp thereof be entirely linen yarn."
Now as half a loaf is better than none, the cotton manufacturers
received a direct impulse by the partial removal of the obnoxious
restriction, and very soon the supply was far ahead of the demand.
Manufacturers were crying out constantly for more weight and better
stuff, but how by the mechanical means at the disposal of the spinners
were they to get it? Lancashire historians say that it was no uncommon
thing for weavers to travel miles in search of weft, and then many of
them returned to their looms with only a quarter of the amount they
required.
Another cause which acted in the direction of increasing the demand for
yarns and weft was the invention of the _flying shuttle_ by John Kay
about 1738. Previous to his time, the heavy shuttles containing the
wefts were sent across the looms by two persons. Now, by his new shuttle
he dispensed with the services of one of these artisans, and by means of
his arrangement for quickly sending the shuttle along the lathe of the
loom, much more cloth was produced. Poor Kay suffered much by the cruel
persecution of his countrymen, who ignorantly supposed that in bringing
his new shuttle to such perfection, they would be deprived _permanently_
of their occupations, with nothing but starvation looking them in the
face. Of course, nothing could be wider of the truth than this, but Kay
had to flee his country, and died in poverty and obscurity in a foreign
land. Still the shuttle continued to be used, for the makers of cloth
had learned that increased production meant more work, and possibly
greater profit, and though Kay disappeared, his works remained behind.
The demand for weft grew more and more. It has been said that it is the
occasion which makes the man, and not man the occasion. It was so in
this case, for here was a cry for some mechanical means to be discovered
for satisfying the ever-increasing demand for cotton weft. Hitherto
single threads only had been dealt with on the spinning machines, but
the same year witnessed the introduction of an invention which in a few
years completely revolutionized the spinning industry, and which
enabled one worker to spin hundreds of threads at once.
The year 1738, which witnessed the birth of Kay's invention, also saw
that of Lewis Paul, an artisan of Birmingham. This was a new method of
spinning by means of _Rollers_. It should be remembered that this was
thirty years before Arkwright attempted to obtain letters patent for his
system of spinning by rollers.
Most of the readers of this little book will have seen what is known in
_domestic parlance_ as a clothes-wringer. Here the wooden or rubber
rollers, by means of weights or screws, are made to squeeze out most of
the moisture which remains after the garment has left the washing-tub.
Now if two sets of such rollers could be put together, so that in
section the four centres would coincide with the four angular points of
a square, and the back pair could be made to have a greater surface
velocity than the front pair, this arrangement would give something like
the idea which Paul had in his mind at that time. Why make the back pair
revolve at a greater rate? For this reason, that as the cotton was
supplied to the front pair, and passed on to the second, remembering
that these are going at a greater rate, it follows that the cotton
_would be drawn out_ in passing from the first to the second pair. Had
the rollers been both going at the same speeds, the cotton would pass
out as it went in, unaffected. Now it was this idea which Paul
practically set out in his machine. From some reason or other, Paul's
right to this patent has been often called into question, and up to 1858
it was popularly supposed to have been the sole invention of John Wyatt
of Birmingham. In the year named, Mr. Cole, in a paper read before the
British Association, proved that Paul was the real patentee, and
established the validity of his claim without doubt.
The two distinguishing features of Paul's Spinning Machine were: (1) by
means of the rollers and flyers he performed the operations of
drawing-out and twisting, which had hitherto been done by the fingers
and thumbs of the spinners; and (2) he changed the position of the
spindle itself from the horizontal to the vertical.
A glance at the Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of
Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, shows that this period (1760-1770) was
most prolific of inventions specially relating to the various sections
of the cotton industry. There were "improved spinning wheels," "a
horizontal spinning wheel," and three other forms of "spinning machines"
submitted to the above society between 1761 and 1767, in the hope of
obtaining money grants in the shape of premiums, which had been offered
to the best inventions for improving spinning machinery in general.
The above list does not however contain any reference to one improvement
by James Hargreaves of Blackburn, Lancashire, to which in this story
special mention must be made.
It appears that in 1764 or 1765 this individual had completed a machine
for spinning eleven threads _simultaneously_; and five years later he
had developed the machine to so perfect a state that he took out a
patent for it, from which time it became known to the industrial world
as a _Spinning Jenny_. His right to the patent has over and over again
been challenged, and it has been alleged that Thomas Highs of Leigh,
also in Lancashire, was the real inventor. Baines, in his "History of
the Cotton Manufacture," is inclined to the view that Hargreaves was the
first to perfect the machine known as the "Jenny" (see Fig. 21).
From whatever point of view Hargreaves' machine is looked at, it must be
acknowledged to be a decided step forward in the direction of spinning
machinery improvement.
The jenny was so unlike Arkwright's frame or Paul's, and preceded that
of the former by some years, that its claim to originality can not be
questioned. How the inventor came to produce his machine can not be
stated, but it is reported that on one occasion he saw a single thread
spinning wheel which had been accidentally knocked over, lying with the
wheel and spindle free and both revolving.
If the reader will think for a minute it will be apparent that the
horizontal position of the spindle would be changed to a vertical one,
and Hargreaves argued if one spindle could revolve in that way, why
should not eight or any number of spindles be made to work at the same
time. How far he successfully worked out that idea will be seen if
reference be made to the illustration of the jenny which is shown in
Fig. 21.
After what has been said under the head of Carding, Drawing, and Roving,
it will easily be understood when it is said that, unlike Arkwright's
Machine, Hargreaves' Jenny could only deal with the cotton when in the
state of _roving_, and it was the roving which this machine attenuated
and twisted or spun into yarn.
If the reader will imagine he or she is standing in front of the jenny,
the following description will be made much clearer:--
Image: FIG. 21.--Hargreaves' spinning jenny (after Baines).
The rovings, which have previously been prepared, are each passed from
the bobbins seen on the lower creel, through a number of grooves on one
of the bars which run across the frame, as seen in the illustration.
These rovings are next passed on to the spindles standing at the back of
the frame and secured to them. A second bar in front of the one over
which the rovings pass, acts as a brake and prevents, when in its proper
position, any more roving being delivered, thus securing all between the
spindles and the said bar. The wheel which is seen on the right of the
jenny communicates with a cylinder by means of a strap or rope, and this
cylinder in turning gives circular motion to the spindles which are
connected with the cylinder by endless bands. On the spindle is the
wharf, specially formed to allow the band to run without slipping.
The operations for a complete spinning of one delivery is described by
Baines as follows:--
"A certain portion of roving being extended from the spindles to the
wooden clasp, the clasp was closed, and was then drawn along the
horizontal frame to a considerable distance from the spindles, by which
the threads were lengthened out, and reduced to the proper tenuity; this
was done with the spinner's left hand, and his right hand at the same
time turned a wheel which caused the spindles to revolve rapidly, and
thus the roving was spun into yarn. By returning the clasp to its first
situation, and letting down a presser wire, the yarn was wound on the
spindle."
Hatred and jealousy were immediately born when Hargreaves' splendid
improvement became known, and, like poor Kay before him, he had to leave
his native soil and get to some more secluded spot. He ultimately
arrived in Nottingham, set at once to accommodate himself to his new
environment, and soon entered into partnership with a Mr. James, and in
1770 took out a patent for his Jenny. In conjunction with his new
partner, a mill was built, said to be one of the first, if not the
first, spinning mill so called in this country.
Though it is stated by Arkwright that Hargreaves died in comparative
obscurity and poverty, others say that this is not so; though he was not
wealthy the evidence is sufficiently good to believe that he died in
moderate circumstances.
The register of St. Mary's Parish, Nottingham, contains the following
entry:--"1778, April 22, James Hargraves."
CHAPTER VIII.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS--ARKWRIGHT AND CROMPTON.
Whatever may be said in favour of other spinning machinery inventors, it
is quite certain that when we put the whole of them together, two stand
out in greater prominence than any of the rest, viz., Arkwright and
Crompton.
Probably the former did more than any other Englishman to establish what
is known as the Modern Factory System. He was not what one might call a
brilliant man or great inventor, but he had the happy knack of
appreciating and seizing upon what he knew was a good thing, and set
about instantly to get all out of it that he could, and there are those
who strongly affirm that he often got much more than he was entitled to.
However that may be, it can not be denied that he possessed eminent
business qualifications, and these, coupled with other of his qualities,
helped to make him exceedingly successful.
He first saw the light of day on December 23rd, 1732, in Preston,
Lancashire, twenty-one years before his great rival and contemporary,
Samuel Crompton. His parents could not possibly afford to give him any
schooling, he being the youngest of thirteen. Apprenticed to the trade
of barber, he became in time a first-rate man in that business. In 1760,
when twenty-eight years of age, he left Preston and settled down in
Bolton in Lancashire, setting up the business of barber and
peruke-maker. The youthful Samuel Crompton would no doubt pay him many
visits when in Churchgate, and little did he dream that the head he so
often would undoubtedly use his skill upon was the one which would
evolve by and by a machine which would amaze the then commercial world;
but it was so. Another part of Arkwright's business, that of travelling
up and down the country buying and selling human hair for wig-making,
would put him _au fait_ with almost every new invention and idea.
Richard's business card proves that he believed in advertising himself
even as a barber.
Just about this time there was much excitement, especially in
Lancashire, about the marvellous invention of Hargreaves, the
particulars of which had now become known to the public. One of the
first to appreciate the significance of this invention was Arkwright
himself, so that it may reasonably be supposed that he would in good
time know all there was to be known of the mechanism used by Hargreaves
in his new method of spinning.
Later on, Arkwright became acquainted with a man named Highs of Leigh,
another experimenter in spinning. The circle of his acquaintanceship
also included Kay, a clockmaker of Warrington, who had assisted Highs on
several occasions in his investigations.
At this time Arkwright's all-absorbing hobby was mechanics, and first
one experiment and then another was made in rapid succession. Needless
to say, his business of barbering suffered in the meanwhile.
From the first he turned his attention to an improvement of spinning
cotton by drawing rollers. His efforts were crowned with success, and he
ultimately blossomed into a knight, and was elected High Sheriff of
Derbyshire. It is rather singular that he should be about the only one
of the cotton-machinery inventors of this age who amassed a fortune;
most of the others being but slightly removed from want in their last
days.
There were many who claimed that they were the real and original
inventors of this method of spinning by rollers, but there can be no
doubt that to Arkwright alone belongs the credit for bringing these
improvements to a higher state of perfection than they ever attained
before.
At the present time, roller drawing is the great basis of the operations
of modern spinning, wherever performed.
Not only is this the case in the final stages of production, but it is
especially true of most of the preparatory processes, whether used for
the production of coarse, medium or fine yarns.
As is well known, the great principle of drawing rollers is, that the
cotton is passed through three or four pairs of rollers in quick
succession, and attenuated by each pair in turn, each pair being made to
revolve more quickly than the preceding pair. This identical process is
repeated in machine after machine, until finally the bulk of cotton is
reduced to a fine thread, of which, in some cases, it takes two or three
hundred miles to weigh _one pound_. Even in what are termed medium
numbers or counts of cotton yarn, there are from fifteen to twenty-five
miles of thread in a pound avoirdupois, and more than _a thousand
million pounds_ of such yarns are spun annually.
The year 1767 found Arkwright entirely absorbed in his ideas of roller
drawing, and he got the clockmaker Kay to journey with him to
Nottingham, possibly thinking that what had been meted out to other
inventors in Lancashire should not be repeated in his case. He here
collected about him a number of friends, moneyed and otherwise, who
helped in his evolution of spinning machinery.
A man named John Smalley of Preston found him the wherewithal to carry
on his experiments first at Preston and later on at Nottingham.
Certainly what he put up at Nottingham gave such promise of practical
utility, that two experienced business men were led to join him in
partnership, and the three of them, Need, Strutt, and Arkwright, very
soon had mills built in Nottingham, Cromford and Matlock. The
first-named mill was worked by horses, the two latter by water, hence
the common name of _water frame_, given to the machines of Arkwright.
The gentlemen taken into partnership were able and qualified to give
good sound advice and help to Arkwright, and about the middle of the
year 1769 he took out a patent for his "_water frame_."
To use his own words, in his specification he "had, by great study and
long application, invented a new piece of machinery, never before found
out, practised or used, for the making of weft or yarn from cotton,
flax, and wool; which would be of great utility to a great many
manufacturers, as well as to His Majesty's subjects in general, by
employing a great many poor people in working the said machinery, and by
making the said weft or yarn much superior in quality to any heretofore
manufactured or made."
No useful purpose could be served by reproducing Arkwright's description
of the machine in question, but a picture of the actual machine is
shown in Fig. 22.
Image: FIG. 22.--Arkwright's machine (after Baines).
The most important feature of the invention, of course, was the drawing
out or attenuating of the cotton by rollers revolving at different
speeds. But it was also essential that proper mechanism should be
provided by which twist would be put into the yarn to make it
sufficiently strong; and furthermore, it was necessary to arrange for
the attenuated and twisted cotton to be automatically guided and coiled
up or wound up into a convenient form. As we have seen, the drawing out
of the cotton finer he accomplished by the Drawing Rollers originally
invented by Lewis Paul, while for the latter purpose he successfully
adapted the principle already existing in the Saxony wheel, used in the
linen manufacture, with which he probably became acquainted during his
residence at Preston.
It should not be forgotten that Hargreaves had introduced into the
commercial world his Jenny, a few years anterior to Arkwright's water
frame becoming so successful. These two machines were more or less in
rivalry, but not perhaps to that extent which many would suppose. From
the very first it was found that the frame of Arkwright's was much more
suitable for warp or twist yarns, _i.e._, the longitudinal threads of a
cloth, whereas Hargreaves' machine was more adapted for the production
of weft yarns, _i.e._, the transverse threads of a cloth. Now it cannot
be too strongly remarked that, at the present time, after the lapse of a
century, the same state of things practically obtain in the improved
machines of to-day; Hargreaves' machine being represented by the system
of intermittent spinning upon the improved self-actor mule, while
Arkwright's water frame is represented by the system of continuous
spinning upon the modern Ring Spinning frame. While weft yarn is now
almost entirely produced on the mule, warp yarns are in many cases now
obtained from the Ring Frames, this latter system at the present time
being greatly on the increase and daily becoming more popular.
The Carding Engine was greatly improved by Arkwright's many useful
improvements, especially that of the Doffer comb, being entirely his
own. The effect of this comb is fully described in the chapter dealing
with manipulation of the cotton by the Carding Engine.
Paul was probably the first, in 1748, to invent the Carding Machine. His
inventions seemed to hang fire until introduced into Lancashire, when
they were adopted by a Mr. Peel, Arkwright and others. The chief
defects, perhaps, of this machine was the absence of proper means for
putting the cotton on the revolving cylinder and having it stripped when
sufficiently carded. Hence the great value of Arkwright's stripping
comb.
Some old Carding Engines which were used at this time are still in
existence, though only used for museum purposes. As will have been
gathered in a former chapter dealing with the manipulation of the cotton
in the mill, between the Carding Engine and the final process of
spinning there are other and important stages of preparation, and in
these it is seen how in one respect Arkwright's method of drawing out
cotton by revolving rollers was immeasurably superior to the travelling
carriage of Hargreaves.
The strength of a rope is represented by its weakest parts, and the same
may be said of yarn. There can be no doubt that one of Arkwright's
greatest difficulties was to give an uniform yarn, and though he
successfully launched his new machines he felt there was still much to
be done in the direction of remedying yarn which was irregular in
thickness and strength. In order to do this, he finally adapted his
drawing rollers to what is now the modern drawing frame--a machine quite
as largely used, and quite as necessary in present-day spinning, as it
was a hundred years ago.
It was sought to make this machine do two things. (1) Several slivers
of cotton from the Card were put up together at the back, and by means
of four pairs of drawing rollers, were reduced to the thickness of one
sliver (see the description in chapter vi.). It will be sufficient to
say here that this method of doubling and drawing equalises the sliver
of cotton by the combination of the thick places with the thin.
Doubling is now the reason of the uniformity of the yarns that are
produced in such large quantities.
(2) The Carding Engine did not by any means lay the fibres of cotton
sufficiently parallel to each other, and this process of parallelisation
was fully accomplished by the front ends of the fibres being drawn
forward more rapidly than their back ends by the drawing rollers
revolving at different velocities. Mr. Baines says it was common to
perform this operation until the finished sliver contained portions from
_several thousand_ carding slivers, but we think he would have been
nearer the mark if he had said several hundred; although the higher
number may be occasionally reached.
Yet again, in order to obtain a thread or yarn of sufficient fineness,
it was found necessary to perform some of the attenuation of the
cotton sliver as it left the drawing frame and before it reached the
final spinning process. To this end, Arkwright adopted the Roving frame,
in which the leading feature was again the celebrated drawing rollers.
This machine made a soft and moderately twisted strand or roving, and if
much twist had been put in, it would have refused to draw out finer at
the spinning machine. Hence the means provided by Arkwright for the
twisting and winding-on of the attenuated cotton on his spinning frame
were utterly inadequate to cope with the soft loose roving, and as a
matter of fact Arkwright never did see this problem satisfactorily
solved.
He allowed, in his machine, the roving to fall into a rapidly revolving
can which stood upright; the revolution imparting twist to the cotton.
When this can was filled, it was carried to a winding frame, by which
the roving was wound upon bobbins suitable for the spinning frame.
That Arkwright was unscrupulous in some of his dealings will soon be
gathered if the various trials which he instituted to defend his
so-called patents be carefully read, though it must be admitted that he
possessed a most wonderful business capacity, and that he worked early
and late, in pushing his ideas with the most tireless energy and
determined perseverance. A glimpse of the nature of his early struggles
is obtained when it is recorded that on one occasion his wife broke some
of his first rude models, under the impression that he would starve his
family by neglect of his legitimate business of barber. So incensed at
her for this was he, that he ceased to live with her. Such were the
defects of his early education and such his determination to learn, that
at fifty he did not think he was too old to begin English grammar,
writing and arithmetic.
That he succeeded in getting together a large fortune is now history. He
died at the age of sixty on the 3rd August, 1792, at Cromford in
Derbyshire.
=Samuel Crompton.=--Perhaps the greatest of the cotton-spinning machinery
inventors was Samuel Crompton, who was born a few miles away from Bolton
in a delightfully secluded and sylvan spot, "Firwood Fold," on the 3rd
December, 1753. No story of the Cotton plant would be complete without
mention of this individual, for wherever fine spinning machinery is
practised there is a monument to the ingenuity, the skill and brilliant
genius of Samuel Crompton. At a very early age he, along with his
parents, removed into a much larger house still in existence and known
as "The Hall ith Wood." This ancient mansion stands on a piece of high
rocky ground and is distant from Bolton about 1-1/2 miles. It was in
this house that he invented his celebrated machine which he called "A
Mule." At the present time one looks in vain for the Wood, but in the
early days of Crompton's tenancy it was surrounded by a great number of
very fine trees, hence the name "The Hall in the Wood" or "Hall ith
Wood."
For some reason the Hall is being allowed to fall into decay, and at the
present time is in great danger of collapsing. Several attempts have
been made to buy the place and reclaim as much of it as possible and
convert it into a museum, but as yet nothing has been done. It was built
at two different periods: one portion of it, that of the "post and
plaster work," being built probably in the 15th century, while the newer
or later portion of stone was erected about 1648, for that date is
inscribed on the porch.
The inside does not appear to have received much care or improvement.
Originally the windows were much larger than at present. Pitt's window
tax, long since repealed, was the direct cause for the reducing of the
windows from their former proportions.
The illustration gives an excellent idea of its present-day appearance.
The building is always an object of extreme interest to visitors to the
locality, presenting even now a very picturesque appearance.
Image: FIG. 23.--The Hall ith Wood, where the spinning mule was invented.
Very soon after the removal of the family to the Hall ith Wood, Samuel's
father died. His mother, however, one of the best of women, filled the
duties of head of the house with much success, and followed the
laborious occupation of farming, and in her leisure moments, did what
many housewives of her class did--carded, spun, and wove, in order to
provide her family and herself with a decent livelihood.
She managed to give what might be termed under the circumstances a most
excellent and practical education to her son Samuel; and it may be here
remarked, that in many respects he was the exact opposite of his
predecessor Arkwright. The latter was certainly a bustling, pushing man
of business, while Crompton was a born inventor and recluse, and be it
said also, as big a failure, as a business man, as could be well
conceived. Of course Arkwright, as is well known, was the opposite of
this.
The early youth of Crompton was identified with the great progress in
the cotton industry of England, and, at fifteen or sixteen years of age,
he was to be found assisting his mother during the daytime, while in the
evenings he attended night-classes in Bolton, where he made great
progress in mathematics. He was so good at the latter subject that he
was called "a witch at figures."
It may be taken as perfectly natural that a man of the character,
training and early associations of Crompton should turn to invention in
connection with the cotton industry, especially since the beginning of
his association with the trade there had always been a scarcity of weft
for the loom which he and his mother operated.
The continual efforts of English weavers of that period to produce fine
cotton goods to compete with those at that time largely imported from
India, led to a great demand for fine yarns, and these the comparatively
clumsy fingers of English spinners could not produce in a manner at all
equal to the delicate filaments produced by the Hindoos.
Kay's invention of the fly shuttle, and the introduction by his son of
the drop-box in the loom, had vastly increased the output of the loom,
thus increasing the demand for weft and warp to feed it.
The inventions of Arkwright, Paul and others had certainly done much
toward supplying this demand, but in Crompton's youth and early manhood
the need of suitable weft was greater than ever. Mrs. Crompton was not
long in hearing about the Jenny of Hargreaves, and determined she would
get one for her son to work upon. This she did, and Crompton very soon
became familiar with it and produced upon it sufficient weft for their
own use. This he continued to do for seven or eight years, although he
constantly had the truth forced upon him, that the yarn he was producing
was neither as suitable for warps as that from Arkwright's water frame,
nor at all adapted for the fine muslins then very much in requisition
for ladies' dresses.
The manufacture of these muslins and of cotton quiltings was commenced
in Bolton, Lancashire, by Joseph Shaw, when Crompton was about ten years
of age; and from that time up to the present, no town in the world
enjoys the same reputation for this class of goods as does Bolton.
With so contemplative and reflective a mind as Crompton's, and the many
years of constant and, to a great extent, solitary occupation on
Hargreaves' Jenny, it is not to be wondered at that Crompton's ingenious
brain led him to devise some mechanism for improving the jenny on which
he worked.
In 1774, therefore, he began those experiments which, after five years
labour, resulted in the invention of the "New Wheel," or "Muslin Wheel,"
or "Hall ith Wood Wheel," as it was variously designated. The term
"Mule" was of later application, owing to its comprising the essential
features of both Arkwright's and Hargreaves' inventions. Because it was
a cross or combination of the two it received the name of Mule, by which
it is known to-day.
At the very time Crompton perfected his machine sufficiently to give it
a practical test, the Blackburn spinners and weavers were going
riotously about, smashing to pieces every jenny with more than twenty
spindles, that could be found for miles around the locality, so that
Crompton took elaborate pains to conceal the various parts of his new
machine in the ceiling of his work-room at the Hall ith Wood in order to
prevent their destruction.
Crompton's hopes and prospects were very bright at this time, as he had
a watch costing five guineas expressly made for him, and just after the
completion of his invention, he married one Mary Pimlott, at Bolton
Parish Church, 16th February 1780. He was then but twenty-seven years of
age, and his great invention, destined to revolutionise the cotton
trade, was already an accomplished fact although practically a secret to
the world at large.
When married, he and his wife set themselves assiduously to produce the
finest strong yarn which his machine was so eminently adapted to spin.
It did not take long for the good news to travel that fine yarn suitable
for the production of muslins was being made at the Hall ith Wood.
Hundreds of manufacturers visited Samuel to purchase, but many more came
out of curiosity, if by any means they could see this wonderful machine.
One individual is said to have hidden himself five days in the cockloft
and, having bored a hole through the ceiling, feasted one eye at least
by a sight of the marvellous mechanism which Crompton had invented.
Ballantyne records that as much as 14s. per pound was obtained for 40's
yarn; 25s. for 60's, and for a small quantity of 80's, 42s. per lb.
At the time of writing the market prices for these are respectively,
7-3/4d., 9-3/4d., and 1s. 3d. per lb.
Crompton, however, was not permitted to enjoy his prosperity and
monopoly very long, and here again may be noted the difference between
him and Arkwright. While the latter extorted the full business profit
from his inventions, the former suffered his ingenious machine to get
out of his hands by promises not worth the paper on which they were
written. His invention was not at all adequately protected by patent
rights, and a number of manufacturers were allowed to use the Mule on
their simple written promise to give him some remuneration. Long
afterwards he wrote:
"At last I consented, in hope of a generous and liberal subscription.
The consequence was, that from many subscribers, who would not pay the
sums they had set opposite their names, when I applied to them for it, I
got nothing but abusive language given to me to drive me from them,
which was easily done, for I never till then could think it possible
that any man (in such situation and circumstances) could pretend one
thing and act the direct opposite. I then found it was possible, having
had proof positive."
Another side of Crompton's character may be seen when it is stated he
was an enthusiastic musician, and earned 1s. 6d. a night by playing the
violin at the Bolton Theatre. Four or five years after the invention was
known, he removed to the township of Sharples, where he occupied a
farm-house called "The Oldhams," being probably induced to take this
step in order to secure greater privacy.
A few words may very profitably be expended at this point in describing
the main features of the machine shown in Fig. 24.
Image: FIG. 24.--Crompton's spinning mule.
It has been remarked that Arkwright had already attained great success
in the production of yarn by the extensive application of the principle
of pulling out the cotton by drawing rollers. Hargreaves had also shown
how to produce a thread by attenuating the cotton by means of a
travelling carriage.
Crompton, however, laid the foundation of the present system of mule
spinning by combining the essential features of the two machines and
blending them into one.
He applied the principle of roller drawing in order to first attenuate
the cotton, and he utilised the travelling carriage as a reserve power
with which to improve the quality of the thread and draw it out finer.
It must not be supposed that his travelling carriage was identical with
that of Hargreaves. On the contrary, it was a vast improvement upon it.
Crompton put the twisting spindles into the travelling carriage and the
roving bobbins he transferred to a fixed creel, and these conditions are
invariably to be found in the self-actor spinning mule of to-day.
In Hargreaves' machine the rovings were placed on the travelling
carriage, and the twisting spindles in the fixed frame behind, a
position which has never been acceptable since that time for
cotton-spinning mules. Here, however, a word may be said in favour of
Hargreaves' disposition of the parts mentioned. The Jenny did not
contain any heavy drawing rollers and roller beams, and it was probably
best in his machine to have his crude roving creel to traverse and the
twisting spindles to be in a fixed frame.
This disposition of the parts is even now to be found in most Twiner
Mules, that is, mules used to double two or more single threads together
without any process of drawing being applied to the cotton.
When Crompton applied the principle of drawing rollers, his ingenious
mind saw that it would be best to let the rollers, roller beam, and
roving creel be in a fixed framework on account of their combined weight
and size, making it very difficult to move them about.
Crompton's great idea seems to have been to produce a better thread by
his machine than could be given by other machines, and in this he
admirably succeeded.
The mule being set in motion, the rollers first attenuated and then
delivered the cotton to the spindle carriage. The latter, by the action
of the hand and knee, was made to recede from the rollers just about as
fast as the cotton was delivered to the spindles, or possibly at a
rather quicker rate. Then, while the thread was still in a soft state,
the rollers could be stopped and the threads pulled still finer by the
continued recession of the spindle carriage from the rollers.
Afterwards, when that length of t
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