, THE COTTON PLANT 89 
different species of cotton are grown, which vary greatly 
in value and in capabilities ; these variations depend 
partly on the length of the hair, which ranges from a 
quarter of an inch to somewhat more than two inches. 
The bulk of the Indian crop is about half-inch, that 
of the U.S.A. one inch, that of Egypt under one and a 
half inches, and that of the West Indies over one and a 
half inches. Concurrently with these and other differ- 
ences there are differences in the fineness of the material, 
yarn, and fabric made from the cotton, and the finer the 
yarn the more time and work is spent on making it. 
These peculiarities show up in statistics of consumption 
per spinning spindle, which range from nearly 350 lb. of 
cotton per annum per spindle in Japan, where the mills 
run all night, or 170 lb. in India, down to 383 Ib. in 
England, and 35 in Switzerland. England being the 
original home of the cotton-spinning machines, it is 
-only natural :that we should have tended to monopolise 
the finer spinning, though our initial lead in even this 
matter, and still more in ordinary spinning, is steadily 
decreasing. 
It may be asked why the great sub-tropical areas of 
the British Empire do not provide enough cotton to 
restore some sort of balance to the world’s supply, 
instead of leaving it dependent on the chance of good 
or bad weather in the United States; or‘again, why 
India should not grow better cotton’ There are many 
reasons, some valid, some invalid, but the primary one 
and the central fact of the situation is simply, that we 
do not know enough about cotton. The real scientific 
exploitation of the cotton plant has not yet begun, be- 
cause exploitation cannot begin without exact knowledge 
