Overview
Cotton was beginning to show some promising signs as a cash crop in the mid 1700’s, but its problems were just beginning to be illuminated.
- The cotton industry grew, but the demands for it couldn’t be met, because much like tobacco, producing large amounts of cotton became troublesome
- In a cotton plant, the two parts that are picked are the fiber and the seed, which are attached to each other.
- The desired part is the fiber, which is the part used in textiles, where the other part, the seed, is primarily used to plant more cotton.
- Each clump of fiber encompasses several seeds, and in order to be used the seeds have to be removed from every clump of fiber.
- The seed and fiber are very difficult to separate, vastly limiting the amount of cotton that could be produce.