1/8 THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



of soap and washing-powder. Cottonseed meal is used exten- 

 sively as a feed for farm stock and is exported to Europe in 

 large quantities for this purpose. It is also used extensively 

 as a fertilizer. 



223. Growth of the cotton industry. Cotton has been used 

 from ancient times and is probably a native of both India and 

 America. Its preeminent position, however, as a Southern farm 

 crop has come since the invention of the spinning wheel in 

 1 769 and the cotton gin in 1 792. The most rapid development of 

 the cotton industry has been during the past quarter century. 



The total cotton crop of the world is nearly 1 1,000,000,000 

 pounds of clean fiber, of which the southern United States pro- 

 duces about 7,000,000,000 pounds, India about 1,500,000,000 

 pounds, and Egypt 250,000,000 pounds. We export more than 

 half of our crop. More money is brought into the United States 

 in payment for cotton and cottonseed cake and oil than for any 

 other single farm product or any other class of products exported. 



224. Kinds of cotton and their value. The cotton plant is 

 a native of the tropics and in regions of no frost is perennial. 

 Botanically it belongs to the mallow family, and there are four 

 species 1 recognized. Tree cotton, so called because it grows 

 to the size of a small tree, is not cultivated. Sea-island cotton 

 has a yellow bloom, a small boll, a tall stalk, and a three-lobed 

 leaf. It is grown near the Atlantic coast in Florida, Georgia, 

 and South Carolina. It has the longest, finest, and strongest 

 fiber of all cottons, and brings twice the price of the average 

 upland cotton. Only a small percentage of the crop is of this 

 species. Egyptian cotton is probably a native of Peru and is 

 grown especially in Egypt, where it produces a very desirable 

 quality of fiber not attainable elsewhere. 



225. The cotton plant. The stem of the cotton plant is some- 

 what woody, and in good soil the plant attains a height of from 

 5 to 6 feet. The branching habit of the stem varies. In some 



1 The four well-known species of cotton are Gossypium arboreum^ tree 

 cotton ; Gossypium Barbadense, sea-island cotton ; Gossypium Peruvianum, 

 Egyptian cotton ; and Gossypium hirsutum, common cotton. 



