336 Elementary Principles of Agriculture 



492. History of the Cotton Industry. Cotton has not 

 always been the important plant that it now is. It was 

 first known to our civilization in Southwestern Asia and 

 China, and is said to have been first introduced to the 

 countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, during 

 the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.). Species 

 of cotton, different from old world forms, were found 

 growing wild, and sometimes in cultivation in Mexico, and 

 the West Indies, and various parts of South America when 

 these countries were first visited by Europeans. How- 

 ever, owing to the great expense of removing the lint 

 from the seed by hand, wool, flax, and silk continued to 

 be the most important fibers until near the beginning of 

 the 18th century. 



493. The invention of the spinning frame in 1769, by 

 Richard Arkwright and the cotton gin in 1794 by Eli Whit- 

 ney, made it possible for cotton to be the basis of large 

 manufacturing industries, not only in America, but also 

 in Europe. It soon became, and has remained our largest 

 export production, and to-day brings more money to the 

 United States than any other class of exports. 



494. The Growing and Fruiting Habits of cotton are 

 different from the grains. The latter are annuals and 

 have a reasonably fixed growing period in which the 

 maturity of the fruit is the beginning of their death. 

 Cotton grows and fruits as long as conditions continue 

 favorable. The stalk has a stout central stem, usually 

 from 1 to 5 feet tall, varying with the soil, rainfall, and 

 variety of cotton. The branches are of two kinds; (a) 

 fruiting branches which form a bloom in the axil of every 

 leaf, and (b) vegetative branches which, like the stem. 

 do not bear flowers, but only leaves and fruiting branches. 

 (See Figs. 212 and 213). 



