VARIETIES. 97 



ages. Italy was the first to adopt it, and when the genius of 

 Arkwright, Hargreaves and Cartwright had invented the 

 proper machinery, England turned her attention to it in 

 earnest, and gave an impetus to the growth and manufacture 

 of cotton, which has since been constantly on the increase. 



The cotton used for manufacturing purposes is distinguished 

 by the length and shortness, the silkiness and coarseness, and 

 the strength and weakness of its several filaments. Some 

 species of the plant thrive best where they can have the ben- 

 efit of the sea air, and the produce is fine in proportion to 

 their nearness or distance from the coast. Others, again, 

 require the interior of the country. In dry climates, as on the 

 mountain-bound shores of Brazil, the best plants are met with 

 on the coast ; while in damp climates, like that of Pernam- 

 buco, the most valuable cotton is obtained from the interior. 



But, whether seen bordering the lofty acclivities of the 

 Andes, with the wide Pacific heaving its boundless waves to 

 a limitless horizon, beneath a sky of more than Italian azure, 

 or met with in the broad, rich valleys and on the sunny up- 

 lands of our own beloved country, a field of cotton in full 

 bloom, with its dark green leaves and snowy pods, (with here 

 and there a magnificent magnolia or a noble pine, rearing its 

 lofty head into the air), is a beautiful sight, more especially in 

 the " picking season," when hosts of busy hands are gathering 

 the valuable produce, and preparing it to enrich and comfort 

 the inhabitants of our own and far distant lands. 



The finest and best kind, is grown on the low sandy islands 

 off the coasts of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. It is 

 sometimes called " Hack seed cotton," from the seed contained 

 in the pods being black ; while the seeds of the staple cotton 

 is called the " green seed cotton/' for a similar reason. The 

 " staple," or filament of Sea Island cotton is exceedingly long, 

 silken and delicate ; and it commands a high price in market-*? 

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