THE DESCRIPTION OF COTTON 465 



at the time of the discovery of the New World, but they made 

 little use of it. While it was introduced into the Southern 

 states before the Revolutionary War, its cultivation did not 

 become general there till after the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth century. Since that time the growth of the industry 

 has been rapid (Sec. 617). 



612. Botanical Description. Cotton belongs to the 

 Malvaceae or mallow family, and is the only member of 

 that family which is an important cultivated plant. There 

 are a number of species of cotton, ranging in form from 

 bushy herbs to trees. They are all natives of tropical 

 regions and are probably all perennials, though the cotton 

 which is grown in the United States has been developed into 

 an annual. 



The ordinary upland cotton, of which by far the greater 

 -part of the crop consists, is Gossypium hirsutum. It is a 

 vigorous annual plant, with a branching, upright stem and a 

 tap root with numerous lateral branches. The depth to 

 which the tap root penetrates varies greatly in different 

 soils; in sandy soils it may reach a depth of 2 feet or more, 

 while in heavy clay it may be only a few inches long or 

 almost entirely lacking. The laterals or feeding roots are 

 only a few inches below the surface. The stem grows from 

 2 to 6 feet high, according to the variety, the soil, and the 

 season. The usual height is from 2J^ to 3^ feet. The 

 length and number of the branches and the length of the 

 internodes or "joints" depend on the same factors as the 

 height of the plant. 



The leaves of cotton are alternate, from 3 to 6 inches long, 

 with a width slightly less than the length, the lower ones 

 heart-shaped, the upper more or less three or five lobed. 

 The flowers are large and showy, being from 3 to 4 inches 

 across. They are white when they first open, but turn rosy 



