296 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY 
the most valuable variety, reaching its greatest perfection 
along the coast region of South Carolina, Georgia, and 
Florida. The upland cotton is cultivated over a wider area, 
but is by no means of so fine a grade. In 1900, the greatest 
cotton-growing States, in the order of the number of acres 
under cultivation, were Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, and South Carolina. There are valuable by-products 
from the cotton plant, the seeds yielding the well-known 
cotton-seed oil. 
Flaz.—The fiber of flax forms linen thread and cloth, 
and the extent of its use is second only to that of cot- 
ton. The species used is a 
small annual (Linum) native 
about the Mediterranean, and 
cultivated from the very ear- 
lest times (Fig. 286). The 
fibers are found in the stems, 
which are subjected to a series 
of processes for separating the 
fibers from the other parts. 
The oil yielded by the seeds 
is the well-known linseed oil, 
used in paints, varnishes, ete. 
Russia is the greatest flax- 
growing country in the world; 
but for excellence of fiber Bel- 
gium excels, where it is used 
in the manufacture of the 
famous Brussels lace. In the 
United States flax has been 
long cultivated in many States 
Fic. 286.—The flax plant.—After a ‘ 
Batuon. for its oil; but only recently 
has its cultivation for fiber at- 
tracted attention, and that chiefly in Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, and Washington. 
