Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/514

 

COTTON

 

COTTON, an indigenous product of all intertropical J regions, consists of the down or fine cellular hair attached to the seeds of plants belonging to the genus Gossypium, natural order Malvaceae. The plants which supply the raw material for one of our greatest industries, and for the clothing of all nations, may claim to be ranked amongst the most valuable of nature s productions. The genus has occasioned no small degree of perplexity to botanists, and the genealogy of the different varieties is still involved in much uncertainty. Linnaeus admitted five species of Gossypium, an estimate which by some subse quent botanists has been more than quadrupled. The in vestigations of Professor Parlatore, who, in a handsome folio with coloured plates, described the cottons which he had seen cultivated in Italy, led him to the conclusion that there were seven species of cotton only, the rest being merely varieties. These are:—

1. Gossypium arboreum, Linn., found in Ceylon, the Moluccas, Arabia, Senegal, &c.

2. G. Jicrlaceum, Linn., growing in Siam, China, India, Italy, &c.

3. G. smdiviclicnse, Pan., indigenous to the Sandwich Islands.

4. G. hirsutum, Linn., including Siamese, Bourbon, Upland Georgia, and Louisiana cottons.

5. G. barbadense, Linn., comprising Sea Island and Barbadoes cotton, with long staple.

6. G. taliitcnse, cottons from the Society Islands, Tahiti, &c., in the PaciQc.

7. G. rcligiosum, Linn., including Peruvian and other cottons, principally with seeds in adherent files.

Fig 1.—Cotton Plant.

Some authorities have enumerated ten species, and the cultivators of cotton have been still more extravagant in the multiplication of species or varieties. Not regarding the effects produced by soil, climate, or culture, they have given new or provincial names to the different sorts of the same species, and have invented a nomen clature which has only produced additional confusion. In Dr Boyle s exhaustive work entitled TJie Culture of Cotton in India the reader will find a trustworthy source of in formation upon the botanical part of the subject.

The cottons of the New and those of the Old World constitute the two great typical divisions of the kinds most known to commerce these are the Oriental and the Occi dental, the Indian and the American cottons. The bota nical characteristics, though slight, are sufficiently marked to prevent the one being mistaken for the other, the se,ed of the Eastern plant is never black or naked, and the curvature at the base of the leaf lobes is compounded of two opposite curves, and not purely heart-shaped as in the case of the Western plant. Numerous varieties of each type are to be found constituting distinct races of the same species, and affording ample scope for experimenters in their efforts for the improvement of the plant.

Oriental, Asiatic, or Indian Cottons.—All these, although the several varieties may be distinguished from one another, belong to the species designated by Linnceus Gossypium herbaceum. There is one exception, however, to be made, and that is the singular purple-blossomed cotton-tree, the Gossypium arboreum, Linn., held sacred by the Hindus, known also as Gossypium religiosum, grown about the temples in India, which supplies the material for the sacer dotal tripartite thread of the Brahmans, the emblem of their Trinity. The plant has dark-green leaves, bears handsome red-purple blossoms, and produces silky cotton. Attempts have been made to improve its cultivation by hybridizing, and to bring it into general use, but hitherto without success, and it remains almost entirely unknown to commerce. With the exception, then, of this curious species, the numerous varieties of Indian cottons are but different forms of Gossy- pium herbaceum. One of these is cultivated to a con siderable extent in the Levant, and is known in the market as Smyrna cotton. The different kinds of Indian cotton are usually included in the generic term Siirats. The principal sorts are Hingunglidt, Oomramittee, Broach., Dhollera, and DJiancar. The Hingunghat, which may per haps be said to possess the highest qualities, stands at the head of the different descriptions grown in the Central Provinces and the Berars. The staple is of moderate length and strength, white, soft, and silky, and well adapted for spinning. Dharwar, in the southern part of the Bombay Presidency, is the only district in India where exotic cotton has been successfully cultivated ; the variety grown is chiefly acclimatized American cotton, from seed of the New Orleans species, Gossyphim hirsutum. In the North- Western Provinces, Assam, and other parts of India, various kinds of cotton are grown, but none of them is of so much importance to the manufacturer as any of those already enumerated. The cottons produced in China and Central Asia also belong to the same species, but little or no supply is furnished for export to other countries.

The Occidental or American Cottons.—These, which have

become known to the civilized world only since the discovery of America, consist of two great divisions the Barbadensian or black-seeded cottons, bearing pure yellow blossoms, with a reddish-purple spot at the base of the petals, and the Hirsute or hairy cotton, more or less covered with a distinct clothing of hairs, bearing white or faintly primrose-coloured blossoms. The two cannot always be distinguished from each other by the appearance of the seed, as the black-seeded cottons are occasionally found with a tuft of short hairs or fuzz at one or both ends, and the hairy, though generally downy all over, are also sometimes found with seeds black or naked. On this account some authorities have concluded that the two kuids belong to the same species the Barbadensian ; but carefully conducted experiments show that the variation in the seeds may be attributed to peculiarities of soil or cultivation, and that the specific characteristics of the two kinds remain unaltered generation after generation The cottons most in demand among manufacturers are

those of the Western world, viz., the Sea Island and