COTTON. 99 



in the market as Sea Islands, Florida, Tahiti Sea Islands, Fiji Sea 

 Islands, and Queensland. These are largely used in the city of 

 Manchester (England). 



China cotton fibres, as they appear under the microscope with a one- 

 sixth objective, have a roughened staple, and pearly-white lustre. This 

 roughness is apparent to the fingers when pulling a staple. On the 

 field of the microscope the fibres appear irregular in structure, the 

 surface walls wrinkled, and the diameter of the body irregular. The 

 spiral character is hardly uniform, and there is some tendency to 

 kempiness in much of the staple. The length of the fibres is about 

 half an inch. 



The cotton plants producing Sea Island fibres are grown principally 

 in the islands off Georgia, or in inland situations near the sea. 



The saline constituents of the soil seem to nourish the growth of the 

 plant, and the saline spray from the coast serves to check any tendency 

 to excessive transpiration or dryness. This probably stimulates the 

 growth of the plant. 



Brazilian cottons are characterised for their harshness, strength, and 

 incoherent staples. As a rule, they are not much used alone, but are 

 often mixed with other more cohesive staples of nearly similar length, 

 by which they are adapted to the production of medium fine counts of 

 commercial yarns. The principal kinds are Pernams rough and smooth, 

 Peruvian rough and smooth, Paraiba Ceara, Maranhams, Rio Grande, 

 and Maceio, with a few others. East Indian cottons have a short 

 staple, and samples are often charged with impurities, such as broken 

 bracts, the veins of leaves, sand, and leafy particles. This cotton, 

 when clean, is white in colour, but when not clean, has a dull 

 appearance, and is often contaminated by insect stains. At other 

 times it is "Boll-Stained," owing to the carpels not having been 

 gathered, and consequently becoming damp, when the inner mem- 

 brane of the capsule stains the fibres a reddish or brownish colour. 

 Boll-stained cottons are not adapted for yarns where colour is an object. 

 They are generally quoted at a lower price on account of this dis- 

 coloration. 



Some kinds of East Indian cotton bolls do not open so readily, such 

 as Scinde. Fig. 67 shows some unopened capsules. These have to be 

 picked bodily off the plant, and a machine has been devised which 

 separates the segments of the capsules from the seed cotton, but has 

 now dropped into disuse. The upper part of the illustration shows 

 some of the unginned seed cotton charged with broken bracts and 

 portions of leaf, and on the right is a fully opened capsule with 

 only three segments and the same number of carpels, thus showing 



