Cotton Yarn

U. S. cotton trade men refused to cotton to a yarn told in London last week. However, observers who realize how effective scientific search can be (see page 40) were not so skeptical. The story went this way:

Eight years ago some Englishmen in British Guiana saw a bird building a nest of cotton-like material. They kept close watch and found the bird picking a certain plant, stripping it and treating it. They brought seeds and roots of the plant to England, cultivated them in Essex and Sussex. By next July three to four million pounds of pseudo-cotton from the crop will be available for Lancashire and Yorkshire cotton spinners.

If the tale, which has not been verified by the commercial scouts of U. S. cotton men, is true--then the reported material will affect the entire textile industry much as rayon has done. Cotton sells for about 20-c- a pound; the new fibre will, according to the story, sell for 12-c- a pound.