305 



COTTON. 



H. Hammond, in his report to K. AV. Hilgard on the cotton produc- 

 tion of the State of South Carolina (Tenth Census U. S., 1880, Vol. 

 VI, p. 475), says: 



In a handful of ordinary cotton seed three varieties may often be 

 recognized, j) resenting well-marked differences. The largest of these 

 is covered with a green down; another smaller and much more 

 numerous seed is covered Avith a white or grayish down; the third 

 variet}' is naked, smooth, and black. It may not be possible to say 

 whether these three sorts of seeds correspond to three classes under 

 Avhich the numerous varieties of cotton are arranged. These are, 

 first, the ''green seed,' corresponding with the GoHsypbtvi hlrsKtnm, 

 or shrub cotton, attaining a height of from 10 to 12 feet, a native of 

 Mexico, and varying as an annual, biennial, or perennial, according to 

 the climate in which it is grown ; second, the " wdiite seed," corre- 

 sponding with the Gossypiirm herhaceum^ or herbaceous cotton, an 

 annual, attaining a height of 2 feet, native of the Coromandel coast 

 and the Xilgherries; third, the ''black seed," corresponding w^ith 

 Gossypium arhorexm^ or tree cotton, a native of the Indian peninsula, 

 but attaining a height of 100 feet on the Guinea coast, and producing 

 a silky cotton. The black seed, how^ever, is not distinguishable from 

 the seed of the long-staple or sea-island cotton. 



HISTORY OF THE LONG-STAPLE COTTON. 



It would be a matter of much interest to determine the origin and 

 history of the varieties of cotton now in cultivation. The difficul- 

 ties of doing this are much increased by the very wide geographical 

 range occupied b}^ the plant. The earliest explorers, Columbus, 

 Magellan, Drake, Captain Cook, and others, seem to have found it 

 almost everywhere in the broad belt extending from the equator to 30° 

 south and to 40° and 45° north latitude, w here it now grows. Although 

 it is not found among those oldest of vestments, the wrappings of 

 Egyptian mummies, its use was known to man in Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 America, and the outlying islands of the sea in the remote past, far 

 beyond the historic age. Its very name itself bears evidence to this, 

 occurring, as it does, in many and in the most ancient languages. 



Xevertheless nothing can show more clearly the importance of 

 tracing and understanding the history of plants under cultivation 

 than the variation and improvements in black seed cotton since its 

 introduction on the Carolina coast. It is known that the first bale of 

 long-staple cotton, exported from America in 1788, wa^f grown on St. 

 Simons Island, Georgia, by a Mr. Bissell, from seed that came from 

 cither the Bahamas or the Barbadoes Islands." Singularly enough, 

 the authorities leave this matter in doubt, the Hon. William Elliott 

 saying it came from Anguilla, one of the Bahamas," and Signor 

 Filipino Partatori (Florence, 180(5), saying it came from Cat Island, 

 one of the Barbadoes." But as Anguilla is one of the Barbadoes" and 

 Cat Island one of the Bahamas" it would seem difficult to decide to 

 which group of islands we are indebted for these seed. However, as 

 Mr. Thomas Spalding, of Sapelo Island, says, in a letter to Governor 



tt Sic. 

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