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COTTON. 
H. Hammond, in his report to E. W. Hilgard on the cotton produc- 
tion of the State of South Carolina (Tenth Census U. S., 1880, Vol. 
VI, p. 475), says: 
In a handful of ordinary cotton seed three varieties may often be 
recognized, presenting well-marked differences. The largest of these 
is covered with a green down; another smaller and much ‘more 
numerous seed is covered with a white or grayish down; the third 
variety is naked, smooth, and black. It may not be possible to say 
whether these three sorts of seeds correspond to three classes under 
which the numerous varieties of cotton are arranged. These are, 
first, the “ green seed, corresponding with the Gossypium hirsutum, 
or shrub cotton, attaining a height of from 10 to 12 feet, a native of 
Mexico, and varying as an annual, biennial, or perennial, according to 
the climate in which it is grown; second, the ‘“‘ white seed,” corre- 
sponding with the Gossypium herbaceum, or herbaceous cotton, an 
annual, attaining a height of 2 feet, native of the Coromandel coast 
and the Nilgherries; third, the “black seed,” corresponding with 
Gossypium arboreum, or tree cotton, a native of the Indian peninsula, 
but attaining a height of 100 feet on the Guinea coast, and producing 
a silky cotton. The black seed, however, is not distinguishable from 
the seed of the long-staple or sea-island cotton. 
HISTORY OF THE LONG-STAPLE COTTON. 
It would be a matter of much interest to determine the origin and 
history of the varieties of cotton now in cultivation. The difficul- 
ties of doing this are much increased by the very wide geographical 
range occupied by the plant. The earliest explorers, Columbus, 
Magellan, Drake, Captain Cook, and others, seem to have found it 
almost everywhere in the broad belt extending from the equator to 30° 
south and to 40° and 45° north latitude, where it now grows. Although 
it is not found among those oldest of vestments, the wrappings of 
Egyptian mummies, its use was known to manin Europe, Asia, Africa, 
America, and the outlying islands of the sea in the remote past, far 
beyond the historic age. Its very name itself bears evidence to this, 
occurring, as it does, in many and in the most ancient languages. 
Nevertheless nothing can show more clearly the importance of 
tracing and understanding the history of plants under cultivation 
than the variation and improvements in black seed cotton since its 
introduction on the Carolina coast. It is known that the first bale of 
long-staple cotton, exported from America in 1788, was grown on St. 
Simons Island, Georgia, by a Mr. Bissell, from seed that came from 
either the Bahamas or the Barbadoes Islands.* Singularly enough, 
the authorities leave this matter in doubt, the Hon. William Elhiott 
saying it came from Anguilla, one of the Pahamas,? and Signor 
Filippo Partatori (Florence, 1866), saying it came from Cat Island, 
one of the Barbadoes.¢ But as Anguilla is one of the Barbadoes“ and 
Cat Island one of the Bahamas? it would seem difficult to decide to 
which group of islands we are indebted for these seed. However, as 
Mr. Thomas Spalding, of Sapelo Island, says, in a letter to Governor 
a Sic. 
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