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What if American cottonwoods-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_sect._Aegiros --produced a fiber that was equivalent in utility and quality to cotton?

Let's assume that cottonwood fiber is processed and used similar to OTL cotton. Assume that it needs a cotton gin to avoid having to pick out the seeds, same as cotton.

As for harvesting, assume that the cotton falls off trees and is harvested by raking it up from the ground and/or collecting it in nets during winds. Assume that using these methods in the 19th C. the yield per an acre of mature cottonwood trees is about 1/2 to 3/4 the yield from an acre of cotton, though the labor is much less intensive.

I assume this is going to have real effects during the 19th C., when the industrial revolution has made textiles, and therefore mass cotton production, a big deal. The US in particular is going to be different. Are there any significant effects from before the 19th C. that I'm overlooking?

I believe one limiting factor is that cottonwoods need occasional flooding to propagate. If I'm right about that, cottonwood production may be limited unless American or other farmers develop irrigation techniques where they didn't OTL.
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