THE FARMER AT HOME. 1Q5 



COTTON. The history of the growth of cotton is peculiarly in- 

 teresting. Its use has been known in the earliest ages of which we 

 have any written memorials. The ancient Egyptians were familiar 

 with it. Herodotus says it was known before his day. In his account 

 of the Indians, he says : " They possess a kind of plant which, instead 

 of fruit, produces a wool of a finer and better quality than that of 

 sheep. Of this they make their clothes." Pliny, in his description 

 of the island of Tylos, in the Persian Gulf, mentions among its pro- 

 ductions certain wool-bearing trees, that " bear a fruit like a gourd, 

 and of the size of a quince, which, bursting when it is ripe, displays a 

 ball of downy wool, from which are made costly garments of a fabric 

 resembling linen." And we have authentic accounts that the article 



COTTON PLANT. 



was in possession of the Chinese previous to the thirteenth century ; 

 and that, on the ascension of the Tartar dynasty, its culture for com- 

 mon use became general. And it is now cultivated in the East and 

 West Indies, in North and South America, in Egypt, and, indeed, in 

 .most parts of the civilized world where the climate is sufficiently 

 warm. 



The cotton raised in the United States in 1847 was estimated at 

 1,041,500,000 pounds, and valued at seventy- three millions of dollars. 

 In 1834, four hundred and sixty millions of pounds were raised ; in 

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