PREFACE. 
The object of this voliune is to embody the 
principal information which we have obtained 
within the present centm-y on the subject of Cot- 
ton, and present it in a convenient and avaihible 
form for all who take an interest in the produc- 
tion of the most valuable plant on the face of the 
earth. 
The author has obtained this information from 
various sources. 1st. From more than fifty vol- 
umes of Reports, Journals, Magazines, Eeviews, and 
Treatises on Natural History. 2d. From intelligent 
planters, educated and uneducated men residing in 
various parts of the South, who, for many years^ 
liave been watching the tender plant from its up- 
rising in May to its last lingering moments in De- 
cember. 3d. From direct observation in the field 
with the naked eye and the glass. 
