DISCUSSION OF PLANT INDUSTRIES 459 



Egypt, and in our own Gulf States. In 1907 the United 

 States produced a crop worth about $675,000,000, which was 

 approximately three fifths of the world's crop. This country 

 ordinarily produces from 9,000,000 to 13,000,000 bales of 

 500 pounds each, the total value ranging from one third to 

 two thirds of a billion dollars in value. 



The cotton consists of hairs which surround the seeds. 

 Different lengths of cotton fibers are produced by different 

 species. There is also much variation in the same species when 

 grown in different parts of the world and under more or less 

 favorable conditions. The cotton plant is an annual. When 

 grown in tropical and semi-tropical countries it requires a 

 relatively long season for maturing. In regions which have 

 shorter growing seasons certain kinds, as the " sea-island " 

 cotton (Grossypium Barbadense), will mature in ninety to a 

 hundred days, and it has been known to mature in seventy. 



423. Fruits of the Rose family. As the cereals are found 

 in the Grass family, the majority of fruits are found in the 

 Rose family. A large proportion of the edible fruits of the 

 temperate region (using the word fruit in its popular sense) 

 is produced by this family. These fruits may be divided 

 into (1) pome fruits, such as the apple, pear, and quince ; 



(2) " berries," which are fruits that are commonly but in- 

 correctly called berries, as the blackberry and strawberry ; 



(3) stone fruits, such as the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry. 



424. The pome fruits. Apples are the most important rosa- 

 ceous fruits. They have been cultivated for several thousand 

 years. The wild species from which they are thought to have 

 originated, flourished in ancient times over a large area in the 

 region about the Caspian and Black seas in southern Europe. 

 This supposed ancestral apple is still represented by wild 

 forms that live in Europe, the fruit of which is small, hard, 

 extremely sour, and unpalatable. From the original wild form 

 thousands of different kinds have developed, and these range 

 to such extremes in size, color, quality, and time of ripening, 

 that it is difficult to conceive of them as having a common 



