296 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



Fiber Plants 



The need for clothing, covering, and cordage, beyond the 

 available supply of wool or other animal fiber, early led to the 

 cultivation of plants that bore fiber, either about the seed or 

 along the stem. Of these we have quite a variety. 

 ^ Cotton {Gossypium herbaceum). This is the one great fiber 

 plant of the world. The seed is surrounded by a fine, strong 

 lint, from three fourths to two and one-half inches in length. It 

 is not so fine as silk, nor so lustrous, and, not being a contin- 

 uous thread, it is not so strong, but it is an excellent substitute ; 

 especially is this true of some of the new long-staple varieties. 



Common cotton is native to southeastern Asia, whence its cul- 

 tivation seems to have spread to China in the ninth or tenth cen- 

 tury, to Greece and southern Europe in the time of Alexander, 

 and thence to the United States, where it arrived something less 

 than one hundred and fifty years ago. 



Aside from all this, supported alike by botany, history, and 

 philology, the remarkable fact remains, that when America was 

 discovered cotton was found under cultivation in the West India 

 Islands, from Mexico to Peru, and in Brazil. The species is con- 

 sidered to be different {Gossypium barbadense), though it has 

 the same yellow flowers with red centers. The famous sea- 

 island or long-staple cotton is considered as a strain of G. bar- 

 badense, rather than of G. herbaceum, which, however, covers 

 the principal varieties of cotton raised in the states. 



With us the cotton plant is a true annual, requiring reseeding 



every year, but in warmer countries it may live for a number of 



years, attaining of course considerable size. 1 



4. Flax (Linum usitatissimum). This is a most useful plant, now 



grown not only for its fiber, but for its seed, as a source of oil 2 



1 At Para the writer " climbed into " a " cotton tree " about twelve feet high 

 and several years old. 



2 This is the linseed of commerce, used in painting. Linseed meal is the 

 ground seed before the oil is extracted, while linseed cake and oil cake are the 

 residue after the oil is removed. Both are excellent feed. 



