Cotton

(kot tn.) [Fr. cot on.] (Bot.) A soft, downy substance, consisting of fine hair growing round the seeds of plants belonging to the gen. Go ypium, O. Malvacea. The genus is indigenous to both the American and Asiatic continents, but ithas been so extensively spread by means of cultivation that it is now found throughout all parts of the world, within the limits of 36° N. and S. of the equator. All the species and varieties form herbaceous or shrubby perennial plants, varying in height according to the climate and soil in which they grow, some not exceeding two or three feet, while others reach a height of 15 or 20 feet. Their leaves grow upon stalks placed alternately upon the branches, and are generally heart-shaped, and most commonly oi ther three-or five-lobed, with the lobes sharp or rounded. The flowers are usually large and showy, and grow singly upon stalks in the axils of the leaves. They have a cup-shaped shortly five-toothed calyx, surrounded by a larger outer calyx or involucel of three broad deeply cut segments, joined together and heart shaped at the base; a corolla of five petals; many stamens united into a central column; and a three or five celled ovary. The fruit is a three or five-celled capsule,which bursts open through the middle of each cell when ripe, exposing the numerous seeds covered with the beautiful cellular filaments known under the name of C. The seeds themselves contain a considerable quantity of bland oil, which has been brought Fig. 217. BARB A DOES COTTON. greatly into use during the last few years; and the cake formed by pre ing the decorticated seeds has proved a valuable food for cattle. G. Barb a dense is the species cultivated in the U. States, where two well-marked varieties are recognized. First, the Sea Island or long-staple C., which was introduced from the Bahamas in 1785, and is only grown on the low islands and sea-coast of Georgia and South Carolina; it is the most valuable kind, having a fine, soft, silky staple from 1½ inch to 14 inch long, and is easily separated from the seed. Second, Upland, Georgian, Bowed, or short-staple C., which forms the bulk of American C., and is the produce of the upland or inland districts of the S. States; the staple is only 1 or 14 inch long, and it adheres firmly to the seed, which is also covered with short down. Egyptian C., and the kind called Bourbon, are likewise referable to this species. G. herbaceum is the indigenous Indian species, and yields the bulk of the C. of that country; it is also grown in the south of Europe and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean, Persia, . Its seeds are woolly and yield a very short-stapled C. G. peru via num yields the C. exported from Pernambuco, Lahia, and other parts of Brazil, from Peru, . It is sometimes called kidney C., on account of its seeds adhering firmly together in the form of a kidney. The harvest of this country commences in August and lasts till December. After being picked and dried, the C. is separated from the seeds by means of machines called gins, and is then tightly compre ed into bales averaging about 430 lbs. in weight. Two kinds of gins are used: the saw-gin, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, and the roller-gin,-the first consisting of numerous circular saws revolving between iron grids, being used for the short-staple variety; and the latter, which is merely a pair of rollers, for the long-staple. The consumption of C. in Europe in the year 1869 was 4,503,000 bales; of which 1,422,000 were American, 1,763,000 Indian, 684,000 Brazilian, 236,000Egyptian,398,000 from other countries. The consumption of England alone was 2,587,000 bales, or about 55 per cent. of the grand total. The C. crop of 1870 in the U. States, the largest since that of 1859, was as follows: STATES. Yield per No. of Acres. No. of Bales. Acre. North Carolina........ 451,714 170,000 175 South Carolina 601,764 220,000 170 Georgia 1,330,491 495,000 173 Florida.. 140,909 50,000 165 Alabama 1,437,272 510,000 165 Mi i ippi.. 1,644,512 725,000 205 Louisiana. 920,700 495,000 250 Texas.... 900,937 465,000 240 Arkansas 711,734 372,000 245 Tenne ee 526,184 215,000 190 Other States 218,823 80,000 170 Total 8,885,044 3,797,000 The use of cotton dates from pre-historic ages, both in the Old World and in the New. It is frequently mentioned in the Institutes of Manu, a work written 8 centuries before the Christian era. Upon the discovery of America, it was found in common use among the inhabitants, and cotton cloth has since been found in the tombs of the Incas of Peru. From India the plant spread into Persia and Arabia. Pliny, early in the Christian era, mentions that it grew in " Upper Egypt, on the side of Arabia, " where robes for the Egyptian priests were made of the cotton. It was brought to Spain by the Mohammedan conquerors of that country, and from thence it spread through other parts of S. Europe, but it has never formed an article of much importance in the agriculture of those countries. India supplied by far the largest part of the cotton fabrics used in Europe until the rise of the English manufactures in the latter half of last century. The introduction of this important manufacture into England took place abt. the close of the 16th cent., when, in consequence of religious persecution, a number of Flemings fied to England, and established it at Bolton and Manchester. But it was merely a domestic manufacture previously to the brilliant inventions of the spinning jenny by Jas. Hargreaves, in 1767, of the spinning-frame by Sir Richard Ark wright, in 1769, of the mule-jenny by Samuel Crompton, in 1779, and of the power-loom by Cartwright, in 1787. At first, England obtained its supply of raw C. from S. Europe and the Levant, and later from the West Indies and S. America, and in smaller quantities from India and Bourbon. Towards the end of the last century, however, the great and increasing demand caused the Americans to turn their attention to its production in the S. States; and such has been their succe , that the exportation of this article, which was only 138,328 lbs. in 1792 (none previously to 1790), amounted, just before the Civil War, to four fifths, and in 1870 to thirty per cent., of the enormous quantity consumed in Europe. The first machines for carding, roving, and spinning, in the U. States, were made at East Bridge water, Ma ., in 1786, but the first succe ful manufacture was that founded at Providence, in/1790, by Me rs. Almy and Brown. The spindles for spinning cotton alone, now in use throughout the world, may be estimated at 40,000,000, of which more than 21,000,000 are employed in Great Britain, 6,000,000 in the U. States, and 5,000,000 in France. [s. 235]