COTTON CULTURE IN NORTH CAROLINA 



BOTANICAL RELATIONS. 



The cotton plant belongs to the Malvacew, or mallow family of plants 

 and is known scientifically by the generic name, Gossypium. 



There are some eight hundred species of this family, only a few of 

 which, however, are used either for economic or ornamental purposes. 

 The most important member of the family is, of course, Gossypium, or 

 the cotton species, of which there are a number of varieties. To this 

 may be added the Hibiscus esculentus or garden okra, and the Althaea 

 Rosea, or well known hollyhock, and the Hibiscus or cotton bush of our 

 lawns. 



The cotton plant is indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions, but 

 under cultivation its range has been extended to almost forty degrees on 

 either side of the equator. 



With us cotton is an annual, but in the tropics the entire plant lives 

 through the year, just as the peach and apple trees do with us. Here 

 the plants attain the size and height of small trees, some of which pro- 

 duce a great many pounds of cotton during the year. The quality of 

 lint from this cotton is not good, however, and is not used for commer- 

 cial purposes. 



In the extreme southern part of the United States a second crop has 

 been harvested from one planting by covering the base of the stalks with 

 dirt in the fall to protect them from the freezes of winter as is done 

 Avith sugar cane stubble. 



It is not certainly known from just what species our upland short 

 staple cotton came, but it was probably from Gossypium herhaceum. 

 Authorities are agreed, however, that the Sea Island, or long staple 

 cotton, originated from the species known as Gossypium harhadense, a 

 native of the West India Islands. 



The types or species of cotton grown exclusively in the United States 

 are Gossypium herhaceum or short staple cotton and Gossypium harba- 

 dense, or long staple cotton, known generally as Sea Island cotton. 



The yield of lint from the Sea Island cotton is much less than that 

 from the short staple variety, but the uses to which it is put, together 

 with the comparatively small amount that can be grown, causes the 

 prices to range high enough to compensate, generally, for its lower total 

 yield per acre. 



HISTORY OF COTTON GROWING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Botanists do not know just where or how early in history the cotton 

 plant was first used for human comfort. It seems to have been used for 

 clothing from the earliest civilizations. When the Spaniards came to 

 America they found it cultivated from the West Indies to Peru and 

 from Mexico to Brazil. 



