Encyclopedia entry on the history of cotton growing in the United States, from early plantings in the Carolinas in 1621 through the 1900 commercial crop. It covers early exports, the introduction of sea-island cotton, the effect of the cotton gin on production, and crop statistics in bales, pounds and dollar value. It closes with the 'King Cotton' slogan of Southern politicians before the Civil War and verses mocking it.

A short encyclopedia entry on the Cotton Famine, the distress in Lancashire and other English cotton-manufacturing districts caused by the Civil War blockade of Southern ports cutting off American raw cotton. It gives figures for the number of people dependent on relief and the amount contributed, and notes the relief ships sent from the United States in 1863.

Encyclopedia entry on Eli Whitney (1765-1825), inventor of the cotton gin. It covers his Yale education, his time in Georgia with Mrs. Greene, the invention of the saw-gin, his partnership with Phineas Miller, and the patent disputes. It also discusses the gin's effect on cotton production and slavery, and his later firearms manufacture. Includes an engraved portrait.

A one-page encyclopedia entry on wool that consists of a table of US wool production for calendar year 1900. For each state and territory it gives the number of sheep on April 1, 1900, pounds of wool washed and unwashed, and pounds scoured. It ends with totals and a line for pulled wool, giving a total product of about 288.6 million pounds (118.2 million scoured).