OFAGRICULTURE. 6.3 



wool, from which are made costly garments resem- 

 bling linen." At the commencement of the Chris- 

 tian era it had become an article of commerce in the 

 ports of the Red Sea, and the remote provinces of 

 India had at that early period acquired a celebrity 

 for their cotton fabrics. The popular name cotton, 

 from the Italian cotone, is said to be derived from its 

 resemblance to the down which adheres to the 

 quince, termed by the Italians cotogni. Many varie- 

 ties of the plant are described, and among them the 

 perennial or cotton tree, which grows spontaneously 

 in Brazil and Peru. The annual herbaceous varieties 

 only are those cultivated in the United States. The 

 average height of the plant in land of medium 

 quality is about five feet. In very fertile soil, it 

 attains to double that height, whilst, on exhausted 

 and sterile, it becomes quite a dwarf. Its appear r 

 ance somewhat resembles that of the okra plant, but 

 is much more branched, and the leaves less in size 

 and of more uniform shape. The branches are long 

 and jointed, and bearing at each joint a boll or cap- 

 sule, containing seed and the wool. Each boll is 

 accompanied by a broad, indented leaf, springing 

 from the same joint of the branch, resting upon a 

 foot- stalk three or four inches in length. The woody 

 fibre of the plant is white, spungy and brittle, but is 

 invested with a thick brown skin or bark, which is 

 pliant and tenacious. The root is branching, with a 

 tap root penetrating deeply into the subsoil, and* is 

 less affected by drought than most other plants. The 

 blossom is cup- shaped, two or three inches in length, 

 never widely expanded, white on the first day, until 

 noon, then changing gradually to red, closing 



