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2 Cotton: A Miraculous Fiber A Unique, Natural Fiber Cotton is a natural fiber with layers of highly organized cellulose surrounding a Even after 8,000 years, cotton remains Why we love Cotton hollow core. The pitch, or angle, of the cell the most miraculous fiber under the sun. Cotton is the most used fiber in the layers alternate, first one way then the No other single fiber comes close to dupli- world. It’s popular because it’s versatile. other, which accounts for cotton’s extraor- cating all the desirable characteristics It’s used in apparel, home furnishings, and dinary strength. combined in cotton. industrial and other consumer products. Recently, a science museum in Newark, Cotton is noted for its versatility, There isn’t a part of your day that you did- NJ, lifted a 3,500-pound car with seven appearance, performance, and above all n’t use something made from cotton. The pairs of denim jeans attached to the crane. else, its natural comfort. Cotton in today’s towel after your shower, the shirt and The hollowness and the layering of the fast-moving world is still nature’s wonder pants you put on, the seats in your car. cells also contribute to cotton’s ability fiber, providing thousands of useful prod- The money you used to buy a biscuit for readily to absorb water and to “wick” ucts and supporting millions of jobs. breakfast. All made from cotton. moisture away from the body. A 480 pound bale of cotton can produce: 1,200 men’s T-shirts, 3,000 baby diapers, 1,300 pairs of pillowcases, 690 terrycloth bath towels, more than 730 shirts or blouses, or 215 pairs of 100% Cotton, 100% Usable, men’s denim jeans. 100% Environmentally Friendly All Parts of Cotton are Used Recycling Cotton Cottonseed oil is used The most important is the fiber or lint, • Cotton stems and leaves are plowed in many products we which is used for making a myriad of tex- back into the soil eat every day. tile products. The cottonseed is crushed to • Cotton’s deep-rooting pattern makes it make oil, which is used in shortening, mar- very efficient at utilizing moisture from garine, cooking oil, and salad dressing. the soil and makes it possible to produce Some cottonseed is also used as a high- top yields with half the water required by Some non-fabric uses protein concentrate in baked goods and many other crops of cotton fiber include other food products. Cottonseed meal and • Even the meal produced from cottonseed tissues, cotton balls, hulls are used to make livestock feed. as feed for livestock finds its way back to and cotton swabs. Cellulose from cottonseed linters is used the soil as fertilizer to make ice cream, paper currency, pho- tography papers, plastics, and mattress and auto cushion coverings. Cotton takes few nutrients from the soil because it is grown primarily for the fiber found in the boll part of the plant. Farmers have also adopted tillage practices that minimize soil erosion. Quality, 100% cotton products are easily identified by the distinctive Seal of Cotton. The cotton plant produces more food for man and animals than it does fiber for cloth. Denim trousers and pants are the favorite in clothing. 4 North Carolina Cotton 5 Cotton’s Importance to our State and Nation’s Economy Cotton is the leading cash crop in the economy exceeds $120 billion, making cot- United States. The annual average cotton ton America’s number one value-added crop accounts for 5 million tons of lint and crop. The average annual value of U.S. cot- 7.5 million tons of cottonseed. The gross ton and cotton products sold overseas is dollar value of cotton lint and its extensive more than $8 billion. That’s a lot of money system of production, harvesting, and gin- coming back to the U.S. ning provides countless jobs for mechan- Other allied industries such as bank- ics, farm machinery dealers, crop consult- ing, transportation, warehousing, and mer- ants, processors, and people in other sup- chandising also benefit from a viable U.S. The U.S.A. produces port services. cotton production system. more cotton than its mills need. In fact, America’s Cotton Industry approximately 65% of Today, the world uses more cotton the American cotton than any other fiber. At the farm level crop is exported to alone, the production of each year’s crop other countries. involves the purchase of more than $5.3 billion worth of supplies and services. North Carolina’s Cotton Industry Cotton’s comeback in North Carolina has This stimulates business activities for fac- been dramatic. tories and enterprises throughout the Back in the roaring ‘20s, cotton was country. king in North Carolina and the Cotton Belt. Processing and handling of cotton In 1926, growers in the Tar Heel State grew after it leaves the farm generates even an all-time high 1,802,000 acres of cotton. more business activity. Annual business Even into the early 1950s, North Carolina revenues stimulated by cotton in the U.S. was home to a textile industry using 2 million bales of cotton yearly. About that same time, however, cotton growers faced a serious threat—a little gray beetle with a long snout. The boll weevil fed on newly developed cotton bolls, destroying its growth. The dreaded boll weevil was responsible for millions of Sometimes called dollars worth of damage to the cotton crop “white gold,” cotton is and was a major factor in the beginning of grown in 55 counties in the economic depression in the South. In North Carolina. 1978, North Carolina producers grew an The boll weevil has been stopped, but is all-time low of 42,000 acres of cotton. still monitored should any come back If it weren’t for the successful Boll Carolina's way. Weevil Eradication Program initiated in North Carolina, farmers wouldn’t be growing the crop across the Cotton Belt today. The program has been so successful that many states, all the way to Texas and New Mexico, have adopted its practices. U.S. cotton production stretches In 2004, cotton provided almost from California to Virginia, cover- ing more than 14 million acres of 75,000 jobs and over 7 billion dollars to about 22,000 square miles. North Carolina’s economy. 6 North Carolina Cotton 7 A Richly Textured History ply large quantities of cotton fiber to the The Industrial Revolution fast-growing textile industry Cotton was used in some of the most By 1860, America’s cotton crop important inventions of the 19th century. The cotton plant grows wild in many reached almost a billion pounds or about For instance, Samuel Morse invented the places on the earth, but it has been known 2/3 of the world’s supply. Cotton exports telegraph and a language called Morse about, cultivated, and put to use by people were financing 60 percent of total U.S. Code to send messages over long dis- of many lands for centuries. Archaeologists expenditures for imports of manufactured tances. The messages were sent over elec- have found cloth fragments, proof that cot- goods, including sugar, coffee, railroad trical wires similar to today’s telephone ton was being grown in the Indus Valley of iron, and other products. wires. Cotton was used to insulate the India (Pakistan) dating around 3000 B.C. Today, the U.S. is the 2nd leading pro- metal wires. About the same time, natives of ducer of cotton in the world. When the famous inventor Thomas Egypt’s Nile Valley were making and wear- Edison was trying to develop the first prac- ing cotton clothing. Arab merchants tical electric light bulb, he needed a spe- brought cotton cloth to Europe around Marco Polo reported cial material for the filament, which is part 800 A.D. cotton flourishing in of the light bulb that heats up and glows. India as early as Currently, there are five prominent He tried platinum, silicon, and boron. 6,000 B.C. types of cotton being grown commercially Then he tried a strip of charred cotton— around the world: Egyptian, Sea Island, The Wright brothers it was perfect for the light bulb because, stretched cotton muslin American Pima, Asiatic, and Upland. The unlike other materials, it glowed rather over the wings of their largest producers of cotton include the than melted when subjected to the airplanes that made the USA, People’s Republic of China, India, electric charge. first sustained flights. and Pakistan. Before the industrial revolution, slave laborers Everyday Inventions – performed the arduous task of harvesting and Today and Tomorrow separating the cotton lint from the seed. Civil War Nearly Wiped Out Cotton As the twentieth century took off, so did cotton. In 1905, Wilbur and Orville Virginia. Americans loved their “home- The Civil War severely impaired cotton Wright covered the wings of their first air- spun” fabric made from cotton and wore it production in the South. When the war plane with cotton. as a symbol of American independence. ended in 1865, the scramble was on to When World War I broke out, fine Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first begin production again. After the war, cot- cotton fibers were used to make a smoke- Secretary of the Treasury, believed in cotton fabric once again became America’s less gunpowder. ton’s promise as a major crop. He recog- favorite. Part of cotton’s comeback can be 21st century inventors found more and nized that the southern states were espe- attributed to the demand for denim jeans, more uses for cotton.

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