COTTON CULTURE AND TRADE. Cotton is a filamentous substance produced by the surface of the seeds of various species of Gossypium. It consists of vegetable hairs,1 of considerable length, springing from the surface of the seed-coat, and filling up the cavity of the seed vessel in which the seeds lie. These hairs are long weak tubes, formed from cells which have grown together, and which, when immersed in water and examined under the microscope by transmitted light, look like flat narrow transparent ribands, pre senting at short intervals a spiral twist, by means of which their surface is roughened, so that cotton goods are less soft than linen.
The genus Gossypium is common to both continents. There is no record of the first cultivation of the cotton plant in Asia or America: it being indigenous to both, so far as our present knowledge extends. Africa and Europe are supposed to have first be come acquainted with cotton by the exporta tion of muslin from India by way of the Red Sea. The various species occupy naturally a belt probably exceeding the torrid zone in breadth, but in a cultivated state we have cotton now extending on one hand to the south of Europe, and Lower Virginia, and even Maryland, in the United States of America ; while, on the other, we have it as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, and in America to the southern parts of Brazil. Within these limits it may also be seen culti vated at considerable elevations. Baron Hum boldt mentions having seen it even at 9000 feet of elevation in the Equinoctial Andes ; and in Mexico, at 5500 feet. Dr.Boyle states it as being cultivated in small quantities at 4000 feet of elevation in N. lat. in the Iliinalayas. The localities suited to the pro duction of cotton depend as much upon the climate as the soil, and also upon the specific peculiarities of the different kinds of cotton plants.
The distinctive names by which cotton is known in commerce are mostly derived from the countries of their production : the excep tions are Sea Island Cotton and Upland Cotton. The former of these was first culti
vated in the low sandy islands near the coast of Charleston in America ; while the latter is grown in the inner or upland country. The Sea Island Cotton is the finest of all the varieties of cotton. The Upland is often called Bowed Cotton.
In India and many of the islands of the Indian Ocean, the cotton-plant has been culti vated, and its filaments spun and woven, from time immemorial. In Mexico the Spaniards found cotton in common use at the time of their conquest of the country. The Egyptians were acquainted in the time of Pliny with the use of cotton. The cotton-plant was very early known in China, and cultivated as an ornamental garden shrub ; but its filaments were not brought into use until about the 13th century. The Saracens cultivated cotton in Spain and Sicily in the 10th century. The manufacture of cotton did not rise in other countries till a much later period. It was not until the 17th century that cotton goods were made in England; and even of these the warp was composed of linen and only the weft of cotton, until the invention of Arkwright afforded the means of producing good fabrics of cotton only. From that date (1769), the trade in cotton in this country has gone on increasing with astonishing rapidity. Thp qu!tntity of cotton brought to this country in 1714 was about 4,000,000 lbs. ; in 1780, about lbs. ; in 1700, about 30,000,000 lbs.; and in 1800, about 50,000,000 lbs. The im ports did not increase very rapidly during the war hut since that time they have augmented in the following manner, taking an interval of five years between the respective dates Years. Pounds.
1815 .. 99,000,000 1820 152,000,000 1825 .. 229,000,000 1830 .. .. 264,000,000 1835 .. .. 864,000,000 1840 .. .. 592,000,000 1845 .. .. 722,000,000 1849 .. 775,000,000 Mr. Woodbury, the Secretary of the United States Treasury, has estimated the entire pro duce of cotton in all countries, at various periods, as follows :— Years. Pounds.