Anonymous

Name: Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle
Author: Anonymous

Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

Summary

“Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle”, is a work by Anonymous. It explores elements such as cotton, sewing and spool.

Quotes from Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle (Anonymous)

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ The cotton is now ready for market.
Toward the close of the packing season there are jolly times on the plantation. Fox-hunting and racing are the order of the day. The Southern planter, like the "fine old English gentleman," opens house to all, and all goes "merry as a marriage bell." Sambo rubs up his old musket, and is out after the ducks, while Dinah's shining face wears an extra gloss in anticipation of the holidays. Throughout the holidays there is high festival in the negro quarters. "The shovel and the hoe" are laid down, and the fiddle is continually going. So ends the cotton season. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ Among the utilitarian gifts of nature and art we know of none in more general use, or of greater practical value, than sewing-cotton. The taste which turns into graceful shapes the products of the loom, the executive skill which converts them into convenient and elegant apparel, would be powerless without this simple accessory. It is the food of the needle, and might almost be called the thread of life to thousands of the gentler sex. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ Abolish sewing-cotton, and you abolish muslin embroidery and innumerable delicate and fairy-like embellishments of female loveliness, which taste and fashion have endorsed.
Every lady is by habit a connoisseur in the article. She examines the spools with a critical eye; she tries the strength of the thread; she passes it through her fingers to test its evenness and compactness, and when seated at her work, detects in a moment any defects which may have been overlooked by the manufacturer.
To this ordeal the six-cord cotton-thread of Dick & Sons is cheerfully submitted. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ The cultivation of the raw material, the processes of picking, ginning, packing, shipping, combing, spinning, and twisting, are among the most interesting operations in the whole range of agriculture and manufactures; and we think the ladies, for whose especial convenience such a vast amount of industry, skill, and talent is employed, will not be unwilling to trace with us in a familiar way the progress of this great domestic staple from the field to the needle. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ Dick, senior, has probably had more experience as a manufacturer of the article than any [14] other man living. Prior to commencing business on his own account he had been for nearly thirty years the manager of a factory celebrated for producing a superior description of sewing-cotton, also well known in the United States. Hence the cotton of Dick & Sons came into the market with a ready-made popularity. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ To the trade it is unnecessary to say, that Dick & Sons' six-cord spool-cotton is the best in the market; and ladies generally are aware that in strength, uniformity of thickness, and closeness of fibre, it is superior to any other sewing-thread in use. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ In a week or ten days the cotton is "up," when a small plough is run along the drills, throwing the earth from the tender plants. The next process is "scraping;" in other words, thinning out and earthing up the plants, so as to leave each in the centre of a little hill, some two feet distant from its nearest neighbors. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ Infinite pains are taken to retain for the article the celebrity it has acquired. Every spool is inspected before it leaves the factory at Glasgow, so that no defective specimens can possibly reach the hands of consumers. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ Yet as it passes through the delicate fingers of mothers, wives, and daughters, ministering to so many wants, and creating so many beautiful superfluities, little thought is bestowed upon the labor, the care, the dexterity, and the scientific ability required in producing the article. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Anonymous, Cotton, Its Progress from the Field to the Needle

“ In 1800 it had advanced to about 18,000,000 lbs., and in 1810 to upwards of 93,000,000 lbs. The last returns before us are for 1852, when the export of the short staple variety alone exceeded one thousand one hundred millions of pounds! To this aggregate we suppose about one hundred millions of pounds may be added for the sea-island and other long-fibred cottons. ”

Anonymous

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