4 KNAPP METHOD OF GROWING COTTON 



'adjustment of the world's products and finances 

 was not realized until after the American 

 Revolution. Silk, flax, wool, and cotton have 

 always been the staples to furnish mankind 

 with clothing. By reason of the cheapness 

 of production, the ease of manufacture, and the 

 general excellence of the manufactured goods 

 for wearing apparel, cotton is rapidly taking 

 place of the other three materials. 



HISTORY 



The original home of the cotton plant has not 

 been definitely established by historians, but 

 from the best data at hand was probably the 

 East Indies. Hindoo history, 4,000 years old, 

 speaks of a fiber, evidently cotton, and leads us 

 to believe it was manufactured into fabrics at 

 this early period. Cotton has been known in 

 the countries of southern Europe for several 

 centuries. The early fragmentary history of 

 various countries mention some plant bearing 

 a wool-like fiber, which was undoubtedly cotton. 

 Some species of cotton have been found growing 

 wild in practically all countries lying between 

 the 37th degree of latitude north and south 

 of the equator except the present cotton area 



