THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 161 



season also the cultivation of those two important plants 

 goes on the Cotton-plant (Gossypium) and the Indigo (In- 

 digofera). 



There is a plant which we often pass unheeded by the 

 roadsides in England, out of which, if we knew or remem- 

 bered its extensive and useful connections, we might spin 

 a long thread, namely the Mallow (Malva) ; and by no 

 means least in importance amongst the branches of the 

 family is the Cotton-plant, the flowers of which show the 

 very same construction, the same valvate calyx, and the 

 stamens united in a column ; the colour of the blossom is 

 yellow, and occasionally red. 



"Where the Cotton-plant is cultivated for the purposes 

 of commerce, its height is kept down to about five or six 

 feet by breaking off the upright branches ; this is perhaps 

 that the pods may not grow out of reach : these burst 

 open as they hang, and the white cotton, which encases the 

 seed, forces its way out. " Gathering the cotton-pods in 

 large plantations is a severe labour, and a great number 

 of Negroes are required for it ; but the labour of separating 

 the Cotton from the seeds is still worse ; at the present day 

 this, as well as the packing of the great sacks of cotton, 

 is done by machinery." England alone consumes three 



II 



