Cultivated-Plant Study 



667 



until our Civil War laid fallow the cotton fields of the United States, 

 did Egypt realize the value of its crop; and although much money was 

 lost there in agricultural speculation after our own product was again put 

 on the market, yet cotton has remained since that time one of Egypt's 

 most \aluable exports. 



When Columbus discovered America he found cotton growing in the 

 West Indies, and the chief articles of clothing of the native Mexicans were 

 made of cotton. Cloths of cotton were also found in ancient tombs of 



The cotton in blossom. 



Peru, proving it was used there long before the white man set his foot 

 upon those shores. When Magellan made his famous voyage around the 

 world in 1500, he found the cotton fibre in use in Brazil. 



It is a strange fact that the only region of the world between the 

 parallels of 40° north and 40° south latitude, where cotton did not grow as 

 a native or cultivated plant when America was discovered, was the region 

 of our Gulf States, which now produces more cotton than any other. 

 The first mention of cotton as a crop in the American colonies is in the 

 report published in 1666. At the time of the Revolutionary War the 

 cotton industry was thoroughly established. It is one of the significant 

 facts of history that the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 

 1793, which revolutionized the cotton industry and brought it to a much 



