Eryngium P A native of the Argentine Republic. The leaves afford a fibre which is well spoken of by paper-makers.
Lygeum Spartum, Macrochloa tenacissima.
Eucalyptus sp. E. obliqua (nervosa) has a very fibrous bark, applied to many purposes in Tasmania, Victoria, and S. Australia. E. fissilis is less fibrous.
Eugeissonia Native of Penang. The fibrous leaves are woven into mats.
Fitzroya ; tree, 100 ft. A native of Chili, as far south as Chiloe. It grows in swampy places. The outer bark yields a strong fibre, used for caulking ships. Flag. See Linum usitatissimum.
Fourcroya ; trunk 50 ft. Inhabits the mountains of Gautemala and Mexico, at about 1000 ft. Dies after flowering. It is recorded as fibre-yielding.
Freycinetia Native of New Zealand. It grows luxuriantly in swampy places in the forest, and could he obtained in great abundance. Its fibre will probably be found valuable for paper-making.
Gossypium sp. (Fa., Caton; GER., Baumwolle).—The number of species of the genus Gossypium has been variously stated at figures ranging from 7 to 20, with many additional varieties. Avoiding this botanical confusion, it will suffice to state that the species and varieties of the cotton plant affording fibre of any commercial importance may be divided into two typical sections : Indian or Oriental, which are different forms of G. herbaceum ; and American or Ocoi dental, which are of two distinct kinds—G. barbadense, and G. hirsutum. All cultivated kinds are naturally perennials, or become so in favourable climates.
Distribution.—The cotton plant is very widely distributed, and may in fact be considered as indigenous to all intertropical regions. The geographical parallels between which cotton culture is usually placed stretch in varying girdles between 36° N. lat. and 36° S. lat. Yet the area within which the cultivation Is systematically pursued is comparatively limited, not so muoh by climatic and geological conditions, as by the question of labour supply.
United States.—It thus happens that, despite the efforts made to supplement, or even replace, the supplies of cotton from America during and immediately after the war, things have resumed their former state, and the world is still mainly dependent upon America for its most important textile fibre. On the other hand, increased jabour difficulties, and impoverishment of the land by bad culture, temporarily reduced the production is many districts by fully two-thirds. This state
of things seems now to have completely righted itself. According to the official returns of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, the average yield per acre has increased from 192 lb. of lint per acre in the years 1868-1871, to 200 lb. in 1872-1875, and 216 lb. in 1876-1879, there being a steady advance from 160 lb. in 1868 to 260 lb. in 1879. Moreover, the oldest cotton state, S. Carolina, shows a rise from 143 lb. in 1868 to 200 lb. in 1879. The cotton region of America is confined to the Gulf States—S. Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. The culture is creeping away from the Atlantio sea-board, west wards to new lands. The cotton region may be roughly divided into four zones :—(1) A narrow belt of land, overlying Tertiary and Post-tertiary deposits, extending along the coasts of S. Carolina, Georgia, and part of Florida ; this district produces the " Sea-Island " or "long-stapled" cotton, whioh excels in length, strength, and beauty of staple. (2) A broad tract, underlaid by Cretaceous rocks, sweeping round the S.W. extremity of the Alleghenies, extending over portions of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and reappearing in Texas. The predominating rock in this region is a soft, argillaceous limestone, called " prairie " or "rotten limestone," overlying which are the rich " prairie lands." (3) Light sandy soils occupy large portions of S. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, generally underlaid by metamorphic rocks—gneiss, and talc- and mica schiste,—and to some extent by Silurian and Carboniferous sandstones and limestones ; these lands are much poorer than (2). (4) Rich alluvial deposits, or "river-bottoms," stretch aloug the lower Mississippi, and its tributaries, the Red River, the Arkansas, the White River, the Yazoo, &c., and along the Colorado, the Brazos, the Tennessee, &o. ; these are very fertile, but subject to inunda tion. In the last three zones, are grown the " Georgian Uplands " or " Boweds " variety, the result of the cultivation of Sea-Island cotton on the interior uplands ; and the two kinds of " New Orleans " or " Uplands." Boweds and New Orleans cottons form the great staple of production, and are commonly known in England and on the Continent as "American " simply. The culture is being energetically revived in California, where it was tried unsuccessfully, and abandoned, in 1877.