There's a good chance that it was a woman who gave Eli Whitney a significant part of the idea for the cotton gin! Catherine Littlefield Greene was the wife of Nathaniel Greene (general in the Revolutionary War) and a supporter of Eli Whitney. A very interesting woman.

The cotton gin was in the air, so to speak. Several inventors came up with different designs in around the same time period (1790s) but it was Whitney's design that prevailed.

Asia and Southeast Asia, yes.

The US has never had a tradition of high quality cotton weaving; we've always mostly exported our cotton crop to other countries to be turned into fabric, which we then buy.

For many reasons, it is very difficult to start a manufacturing process in an area which has no tradition of that type of manufacturing. For a different example, think how difficult it is to start building cars in a country that has never manufactured them. You'd think that the new country could just import the knowledge and start right up making a high quality car but that's not what happens. The first decades of car building tend to be very low end, low quality cars. Over time, with a lot of work and more than a little luck, the quality of the cars improves until they are finally competitive in a higher priced market.

Europe has had a tradition of fine textile manufacturing, Southeast Asia (including India) does, Asia does... but not the US. We have never produced better than so-so quality cotton textiles.

With the ease of global transport, it's just cheaper to import high quality cotton textiles than it is to try to produce them here, where we have no tradition to rely on.

thank you that was interesting

thanks for the pictures and thanks for the beautiful stories you all told.
The only cottonplant I've ever seen, it wasn't even a whole plant but only a part, was one I bought in a shop for decoration....about 35 years ago :oops:
I've seen them again in Ikea here in a town nearby, probably gonna buy another one again.....as decoration ;-)

I am a midwest farmers daughter and crops are interesting to me. We don't grow cotton in Iowa. Thanks for showing me. A farmer is a wonderful thing to be.

The book "A Painted House" by John Grisham takes place in the early 1950s in Arkansas on a farm that grows cotton. Good book, entertaining and informative.

That looks like the field by the side of my home when we lived in Millington, TN...I loved seeing it and it sure is pretty! Thanks for the memories :thumbup:

Thanks - never have seen cotton before.

Interesting pictures. Thanks.

Wow. Is most cotton machine picked now? Would love to see the work in action and how they end up in those round bales. Thanks!