COTTON PLANT. 
1/3 
produce soon rendered them solicitous to propagate 
and multiply it as much as possible. Thus the dif- 
ferent species (for there are several,) became objects 
of commerce in the four quarters of the globe ; for 
although Asia and America afford the principal 
quantity, yet it is cultivated both in Europe and 
Africa. 
It would perhaps be very difficult to distinguish 
all the varieties of the cotton plant which are culti- 
vated for commercial purposes in the different parts 
of the world, nor would it be at all to our purpose to 
attend to this subject ; for us it is sufficient to 
know that the shrub thrives best in hot countries, 
where it sometimes grows several feet in height ; 
and that before America was discovered by the Eu- 
ropeans, many species of cotton grew wild which 
have since been turned to account, with the addition 
of several from Asia and Africa, which have been 
transported there at different times, and found to 
succeed admirably well. 
The history of a plant of so much importance as 
the cotton, ought not to be slightly passed over ; we 
shall therefore give some account of its cultivation 
in the different quarters of the w r orld, after having 
described that part of the plant which produces this 
valuable article. 
The corolla (or flower) consists of five petals, 
containing many stamens united at the base into a 
column, and bearing on their tops as many kidney- 
shaped anthers. From a roundish germen proceeds 
a style as long or longer than the stamens, and 
