14 THE COTTON PLANT. 



vance of English machinery, the skill of the people 

 became almost a thing of the past, the new in- 

 dustry having quite, obliterated the old. 



Abundant as India's cotton crop has always 

 been, that of America surpasses it. India stands 

 second, America first, among the cotton-producing 

 countries of the world. 



Columbus, landing on San Salvador in 1492, 

 and touching at Guadeloupe in the following year, 

 found on these islands a rich supply of cotton, 

 in all likelihood Gossypium Barbadense (Fig. 1), 

 the sea-island or long-stapled cotton, which grows 

 wild on the Bahamas at the present day. For a 

 mere bagatelle he bought as much as he could, 

 and carried it back with him to the Old World. 



Another species, Gossypium hirsutum (Fig. 2), 

 Upland, Georgia, or short-stapled cotton, grew upon 

 the mainland of North America. Cortez found it 

 in Mexico. He obtained from the Aztecs good 

 cloth of their own manufacture, and sent home to 

 Charles V., of Spain, " cotton mantles, some all 

 white, others mixed with white and black, or red, 

 green, yellow, and blue." 



These long-staple and short-staple cottons, Gos- 

 sypium Barbadense and Gossypium hirsutum, of 

 the Bahamas and of Mexico, were early introduced 



