GOSSYP1UM. 



OR COTTON. 



which are round, mucronate, and serrate. It 



grows from two to five or six feet high, bearing 



yellow ilu wi-rs >n the mil of its numerous 



brunches, which flowers are succeeded by 



roundish capsules or bolls, full of seed and 



cotton, il. The Tree Cotton (G. arboreum) has a 



.ilk, with branches six or eight 



I, palmate leaves, and yellow 



, succeeded by oval pods. 3. Vine-It um/ 

 ( G, .-I/.I/IMWI), fig. 3, with lower leaves 



fivo-lnbed and palmated, the upper leaves thrte- 

 lobed. 1. //<"'</ C"t(<m (G. hirnttMH), with the 



!i.i.st leaves undivided and heart-shaped, 

 the lower three five-lobed, the steins and branch- 



v. ihf ilnwers yellow, succeeded by oval 



.tted-barked Cotton (G. religiosum), 



fig. 4, with the upper leaves three-lobed and 



I..XUT tive-lobed, and branches spotted with 



black. 6. tiarbudoes Cotton (G.]iarbadense),Rg.2, 



.ng 4 or 5 feet high, with yellow flowers 



il puds, the upper leaves three-lobed 

 and lower five-lobed, with sraoothish stems. 



The cotton blossom, though described as 

 yellow, is very oAen only slightly so, and that 

 while just blowing, appearing almost white 



in full bloom. When wilting, the blos- 

 Aoms appear reddish ; and the whole process 

 of etllorescence continues but two or three 



icn they fall off. 



In those portions of southern Europe where 

 cotton is produced, Naples, Sicily, Malta, and 



illy the Levant, the Green-seed or com- 

 mon cotton is the only one cultivated for the 

 wants of commerce. The hairy cotton is some- 

 times raised in the West Indies, although the 

 Barbadoes is the species most commonly cul- 

 tivated. In *hs East Indies and in China, the 



546 



common and tree cotton are cultivated, together 

 with some other species or varieties, especially 

 that which produces the nankeen-coloured 

 down. This last has been successfully intro- 

 duced into the United States, where it is now 

 raised in sufficient quantity to manufacture the 

 yellow cotton cloth called nankin, which was, 

 till lately, ah imported from China. 



The seeds of the common cotton are eaten 

 in the Levant, where they are esteemed whole- 

 some and nourishing. All the species afford a 

 valuable oil from the seeds, which, besides 

 being eaten, is used for burning, and many 

 other purposes connected with the useful arts. 



Nicot first made known the tobacco plant, 

 and Sir Walter Raleigh has the credit of intro- 

 ducing the potato into Europe. Two monks, 

 in the reign of Justinian, brought the eggs of 

 the silk-worm from China to Europe, concealed 

 in the hollow of a bamboo. But of the indivi- 

 vidual who first introduced the seeds of the 

 cotton plant into America, history is silent. 

 He was, perhaps, one of that class of which 

 examples are daily met with, who take pleasure 

 in seeking out objects either curious or useful, 

 and dispensing their acquisitions to others. 

 The cotton is a pretty plant, bearing a beauti- 

 ful flower, and was therefore, perhaps, first de- 

 dicated to the parterre of the American garden, 

 where it appears to have long remained, de- 

 voted to ornament, and of little further use. 

 Authentic information shows that in 1736, and 

 probably earlier, it was an object of horticulture 

 in Talbot county, on the eastern shore of Ma- 

 ryland ; and although it may have been raised 

 in squares and patches in neighbouring pro- 

 vinces, no particular attention was bestowed 

 upon it as a profitable crop, till some time after 

 the date mentioned. In 1754 a small quantity 

 of cotton was exported to Europe from South 

 Carolina, the warmer climate of which and the 

 neighbouring provinces, was found more fa- 

 vourable to the crop than the peninsula between 

 the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, where its 

 culture was first attempted. {Jim. Farmer, vol. 

 ii.) It was not, however, until the Revolution 

 caused the supplies of foreign materials for 

 clothing to be cut off, that necessity drove the 

 American planters to raise cotton extensively 

 for home use ; and so general did this culture 

 soon become, when urged by this necessity, 

 that the cotton region was made to extend as 

 high north as the lower counties of the state 

 of Delaware. At the close of the Revolution, 

 great financial distress prevailed throughout 

 the States, which had achieved their freedom 

 at the expense of immense pecuniary sacrifices. 

 Many were the plans suggested by individuals 

 and public bodies, called upon to consider the 

 ways and means adapted to reheve the embar- 

 rassments of the times. The subject came up 

 before the celebrated Convention of Annapo- 

 lis, in 1786. The late President Madison, a 

 n ember of that body from Virginia, who had 

 given much attention to the subject of the cot- 

 ton culture, here expressed it as bis decided 

 opinion, that, from the results of tb^ garden 

 culture in Talbot county, and numerous other 

 similar proofs furnished in Virginia, there was 

 no reason to doubt that the United States 

 would one day become " a great cotton-producing 



