On the contrary, theinvention of the cotton gin and mechanical spinning machines actually reinforced the archaic and brutal institutions ofslavery in theOld South.
Buying good sheets.Thread count is actually a lie. Just because a thread count is 1,500 on a set ofsheets doesn’t mean that they’re well-made sheets. Truly, the quality of the cotton and the quality of the way something is woven is much more important than thread count. Some of the best sheets I’ve ever slept on are 500 thread count, and they’re much softer than 1,500, 1,200 because they’re nicer cotton and they’re woven tightly. So, buy yourself a good pair of sheets, buy yourself a simple upholstered headboard in gray or camel or black. And start simply. You know, let your personality shine through as you continue to decorate.
Moreover, some of the biggestplanning disasters in the world occurred inSovietagriculture, notably with cotton production inSoviet Central Asia, a sphere in which rampantcorruption, and the serious misreporting ofproductionstatistics, vied with fundamentalenvironmental degradation not least due to excessive irrigation that caused the exhaustion of theAral Sea. These problems were a major issue forMikhail Gorbachev who, in the early 1980s, was the Politburo member responsible for agriculture.Environmental issues included thewhisking into the air, as injurious dust, of dried out soil contaminated by chemical fertilisers. This led to an increase of birth defects amongUzbek andTurkmen children. The children living in easternKazakhstan were afflicted with such horrors due to the aftermath ofnuclear bomb tests.
Jeremy Black,The Cold War: A Military History (2015)
Summer time, an' the livin' is easy, Fish are jumpin', an' the cotton is high. Oh, yo' daddy's rich an' yo' ma is good-lookin', So hush, little baby, don't yo' cry.
Possibly you are not aware of the fact that the largest sum given by any contributor to the fund is but a trifle when compared with the losses suffered by nearly all the firms in the cotton trade during the disastrous years of theAmerican war.
Panorama of a cotton plantation from 1907, titled "King Cotton".
King Cotton, phrase frequently used bySouthernpoliticians and authors prior to theAmerican Civil War, indicating the economic and political importance of cotton production. After the invention of thecotton gin (1793), cotton surpassedtobacco as the dominant cash crop in the agricultural economy of theSouth, soon comprising more than half the total U.S. exports.
Could you believe it possible that through such anight as this they choose to sleep under those wadded cotton coverlets, and dread not instantaneousasphyxiation?
Whenever anyone who takes ascientific interest in cotton growing, or in the naturalhistory of this part of theworld, comes to visitTuskegee, he invariably seeks and consults Professor Garver.
But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her, barefoot and disheveled, standing outside my window in one of the fragile cotton dresses of the poor. She will look in at me with her thin arms extended, offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup oflight.
Finally, that I may compress in a few words the brief account of our departure and quick return, and the gain, I promise this, that If I am supported by our most invincible sovereigns with a little of their help, as muchgold can be supplied as they will need, indeed as much ofspices, of cotton, ofmastic gum (which is only found inw:ChiosChios),
...theevil of it is, that it is aworld wrapped up in too much jeweller's cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round thesun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want ofair.
Wherewhite men rent farms and live likeniggers and niggerscrop on shares and live like animals, where cotton is planted and grows man-tall in the very cracks of the sidewalks...
cumulus mediocris clouds - Len Fisher: Aren't thecloudsbeautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by.
Aren't thecloudsbeautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by.
Gone are the days when myheart wasyoung andgay, Gone are myfriends from the cotton fields away, , Gone from theearth to a betterland I know, I hear their gentle voices calling “Old Black Joe”.
Elk Mill, on the Chadderton-Royton boundary, inGreater Manchester, EnglandCotton Fabric
TheCotton Mill invented inEngland, within the last twenty years forms an item of great importance in the general mass of nationalindustry….To thisinvention is to be attributed essentially the immense progress, which has been so suddenly made inGreat Britain in the variousfabrics of cotton.
You dare not makewar upon cotton! Nopower onearth dares make war upon it. Cotton is king.
James H. Hammond (1854), in The Editors of The Encyclopædia Britannica, in "King Cotton".
...and he stuck a bit of cotton on the secondwound. With each stroke of therazor, another bit of cotton joined the crop sprouting on the Hoca’s left cheek, “Now”, said thebarber, “I will do the other side”.
And you prate of the wealth of nations, as if it were bought and sold, Thewealth ofnations is men, notsilk and cotton andgold.
Richard Hovey, inWealth, Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922
Platero is a smalldonkey, a soft, hairy donkey: so soft to the touch that he might be said to be made of cotton, with no bones. Only the jet mirrors of hiseyes are hard like two black crystal scarabs. I turn him loose, and he goes to...
InGeorgia wherechildren work day and night in thecotton mills they have just passed a bill to protectsong birds. What about the little children from whom allsong is gone?
Mao is a sometime Yin sometime Yang strange man, he has a soft-as-cotton outer layer, but at the same time has sharp needles hiding inside...I do notthink he could achieve anything, at the end he will be crushed inside my palm.
Withoutslavery there is no cotton; without cotton, there is nomodern industry. It is slavery that has given value to universalcommerce, and it isworld trade which is the condition of large scale industry.
We [Americans] never really did have a realsense of humor. Notsatire, anyway. We're a fatheaded, cotton-pickingsociety. When we realize finally that we aren'tGod's given children, we'll understand satire.
Production ofKhadi included cotton growing, picking, ginning, cleaning, carding, slivering spinning, sizing, dyeing, preparing the warp and woof, wearing and washing.Gandhi's plea for Khadi was also intended to serve as a base for many village industries such as hand grinding, hand pounding, soap making.
That hard work included picking cotton at age seven in the rows beside Mama Nelson. Picking cotton is hard and painfulwork, and the most lasting lesson I learned in the fields was that I didn't want to spend mylife picking cotton.
I used towork in the cotton fields a lot when I was young. There were a lot ofAfrican Americans working out there. A lot ofMexicans - the blacks and the whites and the Mexicans, all out there singing, and it was like anopera in the cotton fields, and I can still hear it in themusic that I write andplay today.
Every day beforesupper and before we went to services on Sundays may grandmother would read theBible to me and my grandfather wouldpray. We even haddevotions before going to pick cotton in the fields. Prayer and the Bible, became a part of everydaythought andbeliefs. I learned to put mytrust inGod and seek Him as mystrength.
I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quicksound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man'sheart.
Before theCivil War, theSouthern states were selling a lot of cotton toEngland and didn't seem to mindBritish occupation. By and large, the Revolutionary War wasn't at all great for business.
ONanak, the shaven-headed ones aredevils. They are not pleased to hear these words. When itrains, there ishappiness.Water is the key to alllife. When it rains, thecorn grows, and thesugar cane, and the cotton, which provides clothing for all.
There is theillusion of "increased command overNature," meaning that cotton is cheap and that ten miles of country road on a bicycle have replaced four on foot.
G. barbadense L. was named after its assumed habitat ofBarbados. It has been known by alternative scientific names asGossypium evertum,Gossypium peruvianum,Gossypium vitifolium andGossypium brasiliense (USDA 2006).
Innature,G. hirsutum andG. barbadense areperennial shrubs. However, in the agricultural system both species are cultivated as annuals, with destruction ofplants afterharvesting thefruit for seed and fibre. The plants are mainly grown for their fibre, cotton lint, which is used intextiles and clothing.
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Gossypium hirsutum L. was named due to its hairiness (hirsute), although it has also been referred to asGossypium hirsutum ssp. latifolium,Gossypium hirsutum var. punctatum,Gossypium jamaicense,Gossypium mexicanum,Gossypium morrillii,Gossypium punctatum,Gossypium purpurascens,Gossypium religiosum,Gossypium schottii,Gossypium taitense andGossypium tridens. It is commonly known asupland cotton, American cotton orMexican cotton.
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G. barbadense L. was named after its assumed habitat ofBarbados. It has been known by alternative scientific names asGossypium evertum,Gossypium peruvianum,Gossypium vitifolium andGossypium brasiliense (USDA 2006). It is commonly known asCreole cotton,Egyptian cotton, extra long-staple orELS cotton, Indian cotton,Sea Island cotton or [[w:Pima cotton|Pima cotton.
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Archaeological records indicate thatGossypium fibre has been used since 6000 BC. A Gossypium thread, used to string copper beads, fromw:MehrgarhMehrgarh inPakistan has been dated at 6th millennium BC.
C. Moulherat, et al.,(2002).), in P.5
Cotton is currently the leading plant fibre cropworldwide and is grown commercially in thetemperate and tropical regions of more than 50 countries.
W.C.Smith (1999), in p. 6
It is estimated that cotton is cultivated on approximately 2.4% of theWorld’sarable land.
Specific areas of production include countries such asUSA,India,China,America, theMiddle East andAustralia, where climatic conditions suit the natural growth requirements of cotton, including periods of hot and dryweather and where adequatemoisture is available, often obtained throughirrigation.
In P.7
Cotton is primarily grown as a fibre crop. It isharvested as ‘seed cotton’ which is then ‘ginned’ to separate the seed and lint. The long ‘lint’ fibres are further processed byspinning to produce yarn that is knitted or woven into fabrics. Cotton fabrics, used in clothing,upholstery, towels and other household products, are made from cotton lint.
In P.7
De-linted cotton seed (ie. seed with nolint or linters) is processed intooil,meal andhulls.
J.P.Cherry, H.R.Leffler (1984), in P.7
The processing of cotton seed oil involves a series of steps including heating, addition ofsodium hydroxide,bleaching withclay, filtering and treating withsteam undervacuum.
Cotton trash can be used as a bulking agent to improve the efficacy of animal manure composting. There has also been some interest in using cotton waste toferment to produceethanol.
T.Jeoh, F.A.Agblevor (2001), P.8
Extracts from cotton plants, which would be primarilygossypol, have been used as amedicine. In traditional medicineG. barbadense leaves have been used as a treatment fornausea duringpregnancy or for ‘proud flesh’ (swollentissue around awound).
More than 1326species ofinsects have been reported in commercial cotton fields worldwide but only a small proportion arepests.
G.A.Matthews, J.P. Tunstall (1994), p. 41
Cotton is infected by a range of diseases which can affect thequality of the fibre and seed, as well as the yield and cost ofproduction of the cotton crop.
It is made into specialty materials suitable for a greatvariety of applications: fire-proof apparel, cotton wool, compresses, gauzebandages,sanitary towels and cotton swabs.Industrial products containing cotton include book bindings, industrial thread andtarpaulins.
Eliza Drummond:It was the late 1920s whenGandhi proposed his plan toliberateIndia fromBritish rule, creatingswaraj or self-rule, through the use of the spinning wheel. He believed that if Indians would spin their own cotton to make cloth called khadi instead of buying British-made cloth, they could become self-sufficient. Although Gandhi's spinning campaign was born out of a desire to liberate his people from the oppression of foreign rule and an equally oppressive caste system, he soon grew to recognize that spinning promoted "the education of becoming and being.Eliza Drummond: I often spin to replenish my energy. And I am not alone. Women and men all over North America sit daily at their wheels, spending time, as Gandhi would have wished, in quiet contemplation.
It was the late 1920s whenGandhi proposed his plan toliberateIndia fromBritish rule, creatingswaraj or self-rule, through the use of the spinning wheel. He believed that if Indians would spin their own cotton to make cloth called khadi instead of buying British-made cloth, they could become self-sufficient. Although Gandhi's spinning campaign was born out of a desire to liberate his people from the oppression of foreign rule and an equally oppressive caste system, he soon grew to recognize that spinning promoted "the education of becoming and being.
I find spinning to be immediately centering and calming. I use wheels to produce quantity, but vastly prefer handspindles, and often carry one with me to spin in odd moments. The spindle shaft is the center pole, the world tree. The whorl endlessly revolves--time, earth, generations--constantly moving, but never going anywhere. Individual fibers appear, become one in the thread, and disappear into the cop. Constantly appearing and going on, yet there is seemingly no change, the point of draft is changeless--a continual coming and going. My hands move as hands have moved for tens of thousands of years, as they do now, as hands will. And so it is.
I often spin to replenish my energy. And I am not alone. Women and men all overNorth America sit daily at their wheels, spending time, as Gandhi would have wished, in quiet contemplation.
Cotton [is] truly a miracle fiber: it has been spun, woven, and dyed since ancient times, and it is still the most widely used fiber for cloth today. It is soft and fluffy and grows in a boll around the seeds of thecotton plant. There is almost nothing that cotton can’t be turned into: clothes, bedding, tabletop, furniture, even art.
The first people inEurasia to grow cotton for clothing, sheets, and towels were theHarappan people, an early civilization, who migrated fromAfrica to what is now modernPakistan.
Information about cotton are mentioned in a series of famous Indian poems written in 600 BC called theRigveda — one of the most sacred texts ofHinduism.
InIndia there were trees growing wild, which produce a kind of wool better than sheep’s wool inbeauty andquality, which theIndians use for making their clothes. During this period, the famousAjanta Cave carvings show innovative cotton growers in India had invented an early roller machine to get the seeds out of the cotton.
By theGuptan period, circa 200 AD, the Indians were selling cotton as a luxury good to their neighbors in the east and west — theChinese and theParthians. Further west, theRoman considered cotton as luxurious and as expensive as silk, which they bought fromArabic or Parthian traders. LikeHerodotus, the Roman author andphilosopherPliny wrote that in India there were, "trees that bear wool" and "balls of down from which an expensive linen material for clothes is made."
Remarkably, very little cotton cloth was imported toEngland before the 15th century and the small amounts that had been imported were used chiefly forcandlewicks. In the 1600s throughout the entire tale of gods and animals, cotton has a role within the story. In India today, as it was for thousands of years, no matter what caste you occupy or what job you hold you will be wearing a cotton garment, either elaborately adorned or a plain.
The rise ofMahatma Gandhi empowered the people of India. Gandhi and his followers were angered by the laws that sent local Indian cotton back to Britain to be milled into cloth, and then sent back to India in which the people were forced to purchase British loomed cotton rather than hand woven khadi. Gandhi saw the revival of local village economies as the key to India'sspiritual and economic regeneration and he envisioned homespunkhadi as the catalyst for economic independence. He built his strategy around the revival of traditional craftsmanship and skills that would feed local demand with local production. As part of Gandhi’s policies ofcivil disobedience and non-cooperation, he encouraged people to boycott British goods, specifically cotton textiles, and encouraged Indians to use homespun and woven khadi. In India, he adopted thecharka orspinning wheel as the symbol of his principle of self-sufficiency.
In modern,independent India, the cotton industry could, once again, compete on theworld market. There is a still greatdiversity in the traditions and methods used to produce Indian cotton. Weavers often work in close family structures where ancient skills are passed from generation to generation and there is a great pride in the work, the fiber and the rich history surrounding even the most simple cotton fabric.
Thekhadi people made in home workshops and small-scale factories supplemented the small incomes they earned toiling in the fields.Gandhi used khadi as the uniform for the first Non Cooperation movement and the Gandhi cap symbolized the Indo-British battle over the looms of Manchester and a bid for a modern Indian identity.
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