3 SO COTTON PLANT. 



in the year ; others only once. Some bear cotton of a long and 

 delicate fibre, and of a beautiful whiteness ; whilst the fibres of 

 others are short, coarse, and of a bad colour. These differences 

 are strongly marked in the cotton imported from different coun- 

 tries ; thus the American cotton fetches a much higher price in 

 the market than the Indian ; and, though it cannot be questioned 

 that the soil, climate, and care in gathering, have a considerable 

 influence on the goodness of the article, yet it is also as certain 

 that great improvements might be effected, by replacing inferior 

 species or varieties by others of more value. This is now being 

 attempted in India. 



550. The fibres of Cotton are obtained from the seed-vessel, 

 in which they are packed round the seeds; and no further 

 trouble is necessary to obtain them, than to withdraw them when 

 the capsule bursts. This should be done as early as possible : 

 since exposure to the sun gives a yellow tinge to the cotton. 

 These fibres do not consist, like those of flax, of woody tubes ; 

 but they are composed of cellular tissue ; and they are conse- 

 quently much weaker in proportion to their diameter. The 

 greatest difficulty in the gathering of cotton, consists in the 

 separation of its fibres from the seeds they enclose, to which they 

 sometimes adhere with great tenacity ; the firmness of this ad- 

 hesion varies in different species ; and that is to be preferred, 

 therefore, in which the cotton is most readily freed. In the 

 greater part of India, the use of machinery for this purpose is 

 unknown ; and the cotton is cleansed by hand ; in America, 

 however, large machines are employed, which accomplish it very 

 rapidly and effectually. A species of Gossypium cultivated in 

 China is remarkable as having naturally a coloured fibre ; it is 

 from this that the Nankeen cotton stuffs are made, which were 

 at one time commonly worn in this country, and the name of 

 which was derived from that of the place where alone they were 

 manufactured. 



551. Notwithstanding the enormous amount of raw Cotton 

 now imported into this country for the supply of its manufac- 

 tories, the employment of it in Britain, to any considerable 

 extent, is comparatively recent. In the 17th century, the 



