118 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



ever, Gossypium herbacoum, is the most gene- 

 rally cultivated throughout the world. It is a 

 native of India, Africa, and Syria, but is 

 extensively cultivated in India, Asia Minor, 

 Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily, Italy, Malta, the 

 south of Spain, North America, etc. Some 

 other species are cultivated in particular places, 

 as Gossypium Nanking, in China and the South 

 Sea Islands, from which the fabric called 

 " Nankeen " is made. Gossypium religiosum is 

 cultivated in Sicily and Greece ; G. vitifolium, 

 around Cairo, at Rio Janeiro, and the West 

 Indies ; and G. Barladense, in Barbadoes, and 

 generally throughout the West Indies. Cotton 

 succeeds in those countries Avhose mean tempe- 

 rature is between 61 and 68 Fahr. In some 

 places, as in the Crimea, it ascends to 45 N. lat. ; 

 in Asia, even to Astrakhan ; in North America, 

 as far as 40- N. lat. ; in South America to 30 

 s. lat. on the eastern coast, and even as far as 

 33 on the western. The Cape of Good Hope 

 and Australia are the most southerly stations 

 for it. In China and Japan, cotton culture is 

 in a flourishing condition, but tlie supply is 

 not equal to the demand, and immense quan- 

 tities are exported from the East Indies to 

 China. 



The cotton plants are sown in March, and 

 when finally thinned, they are left at from three 

 to six feet distance from each other. They 

 will last twelve, fifteen, or even twenty years, 

 and in many countries produce two crops every 

 year. In some places, however, the cotton is 



