GRASSES, GRAINS, AND PLANTS. 585 



the soil and atmosphere being indispensable elements in its 

 growth. When planted back from the salt water, the staple 

 becomes shorter and less valuable. 



The plant is a very delicate organism, and requires a peculiar 

 soil and climate for its proper development. The soil needs to 

 be prepared with extreme care, and the most perfect cultivation 

 is necessary to bring profitable results. The plant is an annual, 

 and is renewed from the seed each year. Seeding begins in 

 March, but continues until May, April being the most favored 

 month. The seed is sown in drills, in ridges from three to six 

 feet apart. When the plant appears above ground, it is usually 

 thinned out to one plant each 12 or 18 inches, more or less. 

 Continued cultivation follows, as long as the condition of the 

 plant will admit. Blowing begins sometime in July, but the 

 regular picking season begins in the month of August. The 

 plant does not bloom all at once, and consequently the field is 

 picked over many times before the crop is all gathered. 



The cotton, as taken from the plant, contains in weight about 

 one-third lint cotton and two-thirds seed. The seed is now used 

 for many purposes, such as oil, feed, fertilizer, etc. It is said 

 that cotton was introduced into the United States in 1536, but 

 the export trade did not begin until two and a half centuries 

 later. It is related that, in the year 1764, William Rathbone, 

 an American merchant in Liverpool, received from one of his 

 correspondents in the Southern States a consignment of eight 

 bags of cotton, which, on its arrival in Liverpool, was seized by 

 the custom-house keepers, on the grounds that it could not have 

 been grown in the United States, and was liable t6 seizure under 

 the Shipping Acts, as not being imported in a vessel belonging 

 to the country of its growth. When finally released, it lay for 

 months unsold, because the spinners doubted whether it could 

 be profitably used. 



The seed used to be picked from the lint by hand, which was 

 a tedious process, as one hand could clean only a pound or so in 

 a day; but in 1793, Eli Whitney invented the saw-gin, which 

 separated the seed from the cotton rapidly by machinery. Since 

 this invention, the growing of cotton has assumed vast propor- 

 tions. After ginning, the cotton is taken to the press, where it 

 is made into bales of about 500 pounds. When sent abroad, 



