328 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



there would be a sufficient quantity in another place to, partially 

 at least, meet the demand. But it would be still better to intro- 

 duce some other plant, of like character, that could take its place 

 whenever circumstances require it. Wheat, corn, potatoes, and 

 every other staple crop, should have a competitor ready to take 

 their place in case of their failure in any one or more localities. 



Cotton is one of those plants whose value, although knoT\Ti for 

 thousands of years, was never fully appreciated or thought to be 

 a necessity until within the last hundred years. The Greeks 

 were acquainted with it, and they gave it the name of Gossy- 

 pium, which is its botanical name at the present time. It is a 

 native of East Indies, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and most of the 

 islands of the Mediterranean sea. 



Theophrastus, who wrote some 350 years before the Christian 

 era, says " that the Island of Tylus doth bring forth many trees 

 that bear wool, which have leaves like those of the vine." 



Pliny says " that the upper part of Egypt toward Arabia, 

 bringeth forth a shrub which is called gossypium or zylon, and 

 therefore the linen that is made from it is called zylinna. It is," 

 said he, "the plant that beareth that wool wherewith the gar- 

 ments are made which the priests of Egypt do wear." 



Although cotton was highly prized by the ancients, its culti- 

 .vation, as a source of national wealth belongs entirely to modern 

 times. 



In 1594 the agent of Nicholas Lete, a merchant of London, 

 sent him a quantity of the seed, which was sown and its culti- 

 vation attempted in England, but their cool climate was found to 

 be unsuitable, and it was soon abandoned. 



Gerarde, who wrote his great work, the Herbal, in 1597, says 

 " that it was called bombaste, or cotton, and from its wool many 

 kinds of commodities were made, such as fustian, bombaste, &c." 

 The supply from which these articles were made was mainly de- 

 rived from the East Indies, where it was but sparingly cultivated. 



The great epoch in the cultivation of cotton commenced at the 

 close of the revolutionary war in this country, although it had 

 been cultivated in some gardens at the South several years 

 before, and a small quantity was sent to Europe from South 

 Carolina in 1*754. But it was not until the revolution had cut 

 off the supplies from foreign countries that necessity compelled 

 the people of this country to grow their own materials for cloth- 

 ing. We may judge of the value of this article at that time 



