1770,[1] although efforts appear
to have been made in Virginia as far back as 1621. The supplies
continued to be small up to the end of the century. In 1792 the quantity
exported from the United States was only equivalent to 275 bales, but
by the year 1800 it had increased to nearly 36,000 bales. At the close
of the war in 1815 the revival of trade led to an increased demand, and
the progress of cotton cultivation in America became rapid and
continuous, until at length about 85% of the raw material used by
English manufacturers was derived from this one source. With a capacity
for the production of cotton almost boundless, the crop which was so
insignificant when the century began had in 1860 reached the enormous
extent of 4,824,000 bales. This great source of supply, when apparently
most abundant and secure, was shortly after suddenly cut off, and
thousands were for a time deprived of employment and the means of
subsistence. In this period of destitution the cotton-growing resources
of every part of the globe were tested to the utmost; and in the
exhibition of 1862 the representatives of every country from which
supplies might be expected met to concert measures for obtaining all
that was wanted without the aid of America. The colonies and
dependencies of Great Britain, including India, seemed well able to grow
all the cotton that could be required, whilst numerous other countries
were ready to afford their co-operation. A powerful stimulus was thus
given to the growth of cotton in all directions; a degree of activity
and enterprise never witnessed before was seen in India, Egypt, Turkey,
Greece, Italy, Africa, the West Indies, Queensland, New South Wales,
Peru, Brazil, and in short wherever cotton could be produced; and there
seemed no room to doubt that in a short time there would be abundant
supplies independently of America. But ten years afterwards, in the
exhibition of 1872, which was specially devoted to cotton, a few only of
the _thirty-five_ countries which had sent their samples in 1862 again
appeared, and these for the most part only to bear witness to
disappointment and failure. America had re-entered the field of
competition, and was rapidly gaining ground so as to be able to bid
defiance to the world. True, the supply from India had been more than
doubled, the adulteration once so rife had been checked, and the
improved quality and value of the cotton had been fully acknowledged,
but still the superiority