10 COTTON 



The values of the total exports, in the same year, 

 of cotton goods manufactured in the United Kingdom 

 are given in the Board of Trade Returns as follows : 

 yarn, 15,416,971 ; piece goods, 81,049,207 ; other 

 cotton manufactures, including such articles as gloves, 

 hosiery, lace, ribbons, and sewing thread, 13,970,914 ; 

 making a grand total of 110,437,092. In 1913 the 

 grand total amounted to 125,600,951. 



THE COTTON PLANT AND ITS PRODUCTS 



The vegetable fibre, known as cotton, consists 

 of the long hairs which cover the seed of various 

 species of Gossypiiim, a genus of the Malvaceae, or 

 mallow family. The cotton plant is exceedingly 

 liable to variation, and consequently exists in very 

 many forms. The chief factors which influence this 

 tendency to variation are differences in soil, climate, 

 and environment. Moreover, the plant responds 

 freely to altered conditions of cultivation and also 

 readily undergoes hybridisation. The numerous 

 variations in the characters of the plant which have 

 originated from these several causes have been multi- 

 plied by the large interchange of seed which has 

 occurred between the different countries of produc- 

 tion, and have rendered it very difficult to determine 

 which are true species and which are only varieties or 

 races. Great confusion has therefore arisen in the 

 determination of the botanical identity of the various 

 cultivated forms. This confusion is illustrated by the 

 fact that whilst Linnaeus recognised only five species 

 of Gossypium, and Parlatore considered that there 

 were seven primary species, Todaro mentioned no less 

 than fifty-four species which he regarded as distinct, 

 the Index Kewensis (1908) enumerates forty-five 

 species, and Watt in his Wild and Cultivated Cotton 

 Plants of the World describes forty-two species. Con- 

 siderable ambiguity has been caused by the indis- 

 criminate manner in which botanical names have been 

 applied. It has often happened that one particular 

 species has been given different names by different 

 botanists. For example, G. barbadense, Linn., is 



