212 COTTON PLANT. 



their neighbours of the same age were liable. Sir 

 John Pringle remarked, that the plague has never 

 been known in any country where sugar composes a 

 material part in the diet of the inhabitants. 



Sugar, then, is valuable both as food and medicine. 

 It is a pleasant gift for the use of man, and while 

 the symmetry and beauty of the jointed reed delights 

 the eye, the saccharine matter which it yields, is 

 highly grateful to the taste. We have also to notice 

 another goodly gift of the Creator to mankind. 

 This is the Cotton Tree, whose soft downy substance 

 is manufactured into quilts and tapestry, waistcoats 

 and curtains, into muslin, and various kinds of 

 clothing. Occasionally, it is mixed with wool, 

 sometimes with silk, and even with gold itself. 

 Naturalists mention several species of the cotton 

 plant, that are found in almost every soil and 

 situation. Humboldt states, that the larger species, 

 which attain to the magnitude of trees, require a 

 mean annual temperature of 68 Fahrenheit, while 

 the shrubby kind may be cultivated with success, 

 under a mean temperature of from sixty to sixty- 

 four degrees. 



Beautiful is the appearance of a cotton planta- 

 tion, in favourable seasons, and when the cotton is 

 fully ripe. The glossy dark green leaves of the 

 plant are finely contrasted with the full white cot- 

 tony globes which are profusely scattered among the 

 branches, and which often suddenly appear, as if 

 hung on high by an invisible hand. This effect is 

 produced by the spontaneous bursting of the cap- 

 sule, and the consequent appearance of its snowy 

 contents. Those who are employed to collect the 



