COTTON CULTURE. 119 



effects should have time to pass away before the seeds are 

 presented for germination. As guano is particularly rich 

 in phosphate, it is well to use it in combination with a fer- 

 tilizer that supplies some other principal constituent of the 

 plant, as, for instance, lime. Hence, it is recommended to 

 mix a bushel of guano with half a bushel of plaster of 

 Paris, or sulphate of lime, and apply it at the time of the 

 first plowing, when the beds are thrown up. The effect 

 of one will be to stimulate the fibrous growth of the 

 plant and give it size ; of the other to increase its produc- 

 tiveness, by enlarging the size of the seeds, increasing 

 their vigor, and thus producing a staple that is longer 

 and more finely colored by the oil that is drawn from the 

 seed. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE VARIOUS KINDS OF COTTON CULTIVATED IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



There are two leading varieties of cotton cultivated in 

 the United States, the black seed and the green seed. 

 The black seed is botanically known as the tree cotton, or 

 Gossypium arboreum, and came from India. The green 

 seed, or bearded cotton, is of Mexican or West India 

 origin. The nankin or yellow differs from the Mexican 

 mostly in the color of its staple, it being of a pale yellow 

 hue. Peruvian cotton has been introduced and cultivated 

 to some extent ; it has black seeds which cling firmly to- 

 gether, while the seeds of the Sea Island are separate and 

 easily parted from the wool. 



The cultivation of the Sea Island is local, and the 

 amount produced in this country, as compared with the 



