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on the withdrawal of soil-ingredients by cotton-wool and 

 cotton-seed. Experiment of manuring cotton with super- 

 phosphate of lime, and results. 



IN the present civilized state of mankind, mate- 

 rial for clothing must be regarded as almost 

 equally important as material for food ; and while 

 rice and wheat demand our chief consideration as 

 the staple food, cotton claims equally prominent 

 notice as the staple clothing, of India. 



Cotton, then, is the filamentous substance 

 which envelops the seeds, and fills up the cavities 

 in the seed-vessels, of plants belonging to the 

 species " Gossypium." Cotton has been spun and 

 woven into garments for the use of mankind from re- 

 mote ages, and is the chief raw material which clothes 

 India's millions of inhabitants. 



A small portion of the cotton goods used in 

 India is manufactured in this country, but by far 

 the larger portion is imported from England, 

 chiefly spun from American cotton. 



There appears to be two chief varieties of the 

 cotton-plant the one the native of India, of the 

 East ; the other the native of America, of the West. 

 Though cotton has undoubtedly been cultivated from 

 earlier times in India than in America, and has been 

 spun into the most beautiful fabrics even long before 

 America was discovered, the American variety, when 

 cultivated, succeeded in a short time in driving the 



