Produced by Peter Vachuska, Stephanie Eason, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
THE
LIBRARY OF USEFUL STORIES
Image: A COTTON FIELD IN TEXAS
THE STORY OF THE
COTTON PLANT
BY
FREDERICK WILKINSON, F. G. S.
DIRECTOR OF THE TEXTILE AND ENGINEERING SCHOOL, BOLTON
AND CO-AUTHOR OF ELEMENTS OF COTTON SPINNING
_WITH THIRTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS_
NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1898, 1902,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Printed in the United States of America
PREFACE.
In collecting the facts which will be found in this Story of the Cotton
plant, the author has of necessity had to consult many books. He is
especially indebted to Baines' "History of the Cotton Manufacture,"
French's "Life and Times of Samuel Crompton," Lee's "Vegetable Lamb of
Tartary," Report of the U. S. A. Agricultural Department on "The Cotton
Plant," and The American Cotton Company's Booklet on the Cylindrical
Bale.
Mr. Thornley, spinning master at the Technical School, Bolton, has from
time to time offered very important suggestions during the progress of
this little work. The author is also deeply indebted to the late Mr.
Woods of the Technical School, Bolton, who was good enough to photograph
most of the pictures which illustrate this book, and without which it
would have been impossible to make the story clear.
For permission to reproduce Fig. 3, the thanks of the author are due to
Messrs. Sampson Low and Co., for Fig. 4, to Messrs. Longmans, Green and
Co. For Figs. 5, 8, 9, 13, and 36, to Messrs. Dobson and Barlow, Ltd.,
Bolton. For Fig. 7, viz., the Longitudinal and Transverse
Microphotographs of Cotton Fibre, the author is much indebted to Mr.
Christie of Mark Lane, London, who generously photographed them
especially for this work. For Fig. 23, I am obliged to Mr. A. Perry,
Bolton.
FRED WILKINSON.
TEXTILE AND ENGINEERING SCHOOL,
BOLTON.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND CHIEF CULTIVATED SPECIES OF COTTON PLANT 9
II. COTTON-PLANT DISEASES AND PESTS 34
III. CULTIVATION OF THE COTTON PLANT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES 39
IV. THE MICROSCOPE AND COTTON FIBRE 64
V. PLANTATION LIFE AND EARLY CLEANING PROCESSES 72
VI. MANIPULATION OF COTTON IN OPENING, SCUTCHING, CARDING,
DRAWING, AND FLY-FRAME MACHINES 82
VII. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SPINNING, AND EARLY INVENTORS 112
VIII. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS--ARKWRIGHT AND CROMPTON 126
IX. THE MODERN SPINNING MULE 146
X. OTHER PROCESSES IN COTTON SPINNING 160
XI. DESTINATION OF THE SPUN YARN 176
INDEX 189
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE PAGE
1. A Cotton Field in Texas _Frontispiece_
2. Bobbins of Cotton Thread 10
3. The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary 13
4. Gossypium Barbadense 24
5. An Indian Cotton field 53
6. Microscope in position for drawing objects 65
7. Transverse and Longitudinal Sections of Cotton Fibre 67
8. Indian women with Roller gin 75
9. Self-acting Macarthy Cotton gin 78
10. Bales from various Cotton-growing countries 80
11. Cylindrical Rolls of Cotton 81
12. Bale Breaker or Puller 87
13. Double opener with Hopper Feed 89
14. Scutching Machine with lap at the back 92
15. Two views of the Carding Engine 95
16. Lap, Web, and Sliver of Cotton 99
17. Drawing Frame, showing eight slivers entering, and
one leaving the machine 103
18. Intermediate Frame (Bobbin and Fly Frame) 108
19. Twist put in Cotton by the hand 115
20. Jersey spinning wheel 117
21. Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny 124
22. Arkwright's Machine 130
23. "The Hall ith Wood" 136
24. Crompton's Spinning Mule 141
25. Portrait of Samuel Crompton 145
26. Mule Head showing Quadrant 148
27. Mules showing "Stretch" of Cotton yarn 150
28. Mule showing action of Faller Wires 154
29. Mule Head showing Copping Rail 159
30. Ring Spinning Frame 161
31. Combing Machine 170
32. Sliver Lap Machine 173
33. Ribbon Lap Machine 175
34. Reeling Machine 179
35. Bundling Machine 180
36. Quick Traverse Winding Frame 182
37. Ring Doubling Machine 184
38. Engine House, showing driving to various storeys 186
THE STORY OF THE COTTON PLANT.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND CHIEF CULTIVATED SPECIES OF COTTON PLANT.
In the frontispiece of this little work is a picture of a cotton field
showing the plants bearing mature pods which contain ripe fibre and
seed, and in Fig. 2 stands a number of bobbins or reels of cotton
thread, in which there is one having no less than seventeen hundred and
sixty yards of sewing cotton, or one English mile of thread, on it. As
both pictures are compared there appears to be very little in common
between them, the white fluffy feathery masses contained in the pods
shown in the one picture, standing in strange contrast to the strong,
beautifully regular and even threads wound on the bobbins pictured in
the other.
From cotton tree to cotton thread is undoubtedly a far cry, but it will
be seen further on that the connection between the two is a very real
and vital one.
Now it is the main purpose of this book to unfold the wonderful story of
the plant, and to fill in the details of the gap from tree to thread,
and to trace the many changes through which the beautiful downy cotton
wool passes before it arrives in the prim looking state of thread ready
alike for the sewing machine or the needle of a seamstress.
Image: FIG. 2.--Bobbins of cotton thread.
Remembering that the great majority of the readers of this little book
must of necessity be quite unaccustomed to trade terms and technical
expressions, the author has endeavoured to present to his readers in
untechnical language a simple yet truthful account of the many
operations and conditions through which cotton is made to pass before
reaching the final stages.
Nature provides no lovelier sight than the newly opened capsules
containing the pure white and creamy flocculent masses of the cotton
fibre as they hang from almost every branch of the tree at the end of a
favourable season.
And how strange is the story of this plant as we look back through the
centuries and listen to the myths and fables, almost legion, which early
historians have handed down to us or imaginative travellers have
conceived. There is, however, every reason to believe that in the far
distant ages of antiquity this plant was cultivated, and yielded then,
as it does now, a fibre from which the inhabitants of those far-off
times produced material with which to clothe their bodies.
It will not be considered out of place if some of the early beliefs
which obtained among the peoples of Western Asia and Europe for many
years are related.
Like many other things the origin of the Cotton plant is shrouded in
mystery, and many writers are agreed that it originally came from the
East, but it will be seen later on that equally strong claims can be
presented from other countries in the Western Hemisphere. Many of us
have been amused at the curious ideas which people, say of a hundred
years ago, had of the Coral Polyp.
Even to-day children may be heard singing in school,
"Far adown the silent ocean
Dwells the coral _insect_ small"!
Not a few of the early naturalists believed that the Coral was a plant
and while living in the sea water it was soft, and when dead it became
hard!
We smile at this, of course, but it was not until actual investigation
on the spot, as to what the Coral was, that the truth came out.
It was then discovered to be an animal and not a plant, and that during
life its hard limy skeleton was covered by soft muscular tissue, which,
when decomposing, was readily washed away by the sea, leaving the hard
interior exposed as coral.
When the absurd beliefs are read which found credence among all classes
of the people during the middle ages, and down even to the end of the
seventeenth century, as to what the cotton boll or pod was, the reader
is inclined to rub his eyes and think surely he must be reading "Baron
Munchausen" over again, for a nearer approach to the wonderful
statements of that former-fabled traveller it would be difficult to find
than the simple crude conceptions which prevailed of the growth, habits,
and physical characteristics of the Cotton plant.
The subject of the early myths and fables of the plant in question has
been very fully treated by the late Mr. Henry Lee, F. L. S., who was for
a time at the Brighton Aquarium. His book, the "Vegetable Lamb of
Tartary," shows indefatigable research for a correct explanation of the
myth, and after a strictly impartial inquiry he comes to the conclusion
that all the various phases which these fabulous concoctions assumed,
had their beginnings in nothing more or less than the simple mature pod
of the Cotton plant.
It will not be necessary to consider here more than one or two of these
very curious beliefs about cotton. By some it was supposed that in a
country which went by the name "The Tartars of the East," there grew a
wonderful tree which yielded buds still more wonderful. These, when
ripe, were said to burst and expose to view tiny lambs whose fleeces
gave a pure white wool which the natives made into different garments.
By and by, a delightfully curious change took place, and it is found
that the fruit which was formerly said to have the little lamb within,
was now changed into a live lamb attached to the top of the plant. Mr.
Lee says: "The stem or stalk on which the lamb was suspended above the
ground, was sufficiently flexible to allow the animal to bend downward,
and browse on the herbage within its reach. When all the grass within
the length of its tether had been consumed, the stem withered and the
plant died. This plant lamb was reported to have bones, blood, and
delicate flesh, and to be a favourite food of wolves, though no other
carnivorous animal would attack it."
Image: FIG. 3.--The vegetable lamb of Tartary.
In Fig. 3 is shown Joannes Zahn's idea of what this wonderful "Barometz
or Tartarian lamb" was like. Now, mainly through an imaginative
Englishman named Sir John Mandeville, who lived in the reign of Edward
III., did this latter form of the story find its way into England.
This illustrious traveller left his native country in 1322, and for over
thirty years traversed the principal countries of Europe and Asia. When
he came home he commenced to write a history of his remarkable travels.
In these are found references to the Cotton plant, and so curious an
account does he give of it, that it has been considered worth
reproduction in his own words: "And there growethe a maner of Fruyt, as
though it weren Gourdes: and whan ther been rype men kutten hem ato, and
men fynden with inne a lyttle Best, in Flesche, in Bon and Blode, as
though it were a lytylle Lomb with outen Wolle. And men eten both the
Frut and the Best; and that is a great Marveylle. Of that Frute I have
eaten; alle thoughe it were wondirfulle, but that I knowe well that God
is Marveyllous in his Werkes."
No wonder that many accepted his account of the "Vegetable Lamb" without
question. When a nobleman of the reputation of Sir J. Mandeville stated
that he had actually eaten of the fruit of the Cotton, was there any
need for further doubt?
It appears, however, that contemporary with Mandeville was another
traveller, an Italian Friar, named Odoricus, who also had travelled in
Asia and heard of the plant which yielded cotton. He, too, fell a prey
to the lamb theory. Many other writers and travellers followed, all more
or less believing in the plant animal theory. However, in 1641, Kircher
of Avignon in describing cotton declared it to be a plant. And so the
story for years passed through many changes. First one would assert what
he considered to be the right solution, and this was immediately
challenged by the next investigator, so that assertion and contradiction
followed each other in quick succession.
In 1725, however, a German doctor named Breyn communicated with the
Royal Society on the subject of the "Vegetable lamb," emphatically
stating the story to be nothing more or less than a fable. He very
naively remarked that "the work and productions of nature should be
discovered, not invented," and he threw doubts as to whether those who
had written about the mythical lamb had ever seen one.
When the writings and dissertations of Mandeville, Odoricus and others
are carefully considered, these conclusions force themselves upon us:
that direct personal observation must have played a very minor part in
the attempt to get at the truth in connection with the origin and growth
of the Cotton plant.
Their statements stand in very sharp contrast with those of writers who
lived before the Christian era commenced. Of these, mention must be made
of Herodotus, surnamed the _Father of History_.
This celebrated Greek historian and philosopher was born, B.C. 484, in
Halicarnassus in Greece. In his book of travels he speaks of the Cotton
plant. It appears, mainly owing to the tyrannical government of
Lygdamis, he left his native land and travelled in many countries in
Europe, Asia, and Africa. He appears to have at least determined, that
he would only write of those things of which he had intimate knowledge,
and would under no circumstances take for granted what he could not by
personal observation verify for himself. In speaking of India and the
Cotton plant, he says: "The wild trees in that country bear for their
fruit fleeces surpassing those of sheep in beauty and excellence, and
the natives clothe themselves in cloths made therefrom." In another
place he refers to a present which was sent by one of the kings of
Egypt, which was padded with cotton. He also describes a machine for
separating the seed from the fibre or lint. Compared with our modern
gins, as they are called, this machine was exceedingly primitive and
simple in construction.
There is not the slightest doubt that the first reliable information of
the physical characters of the fibre and its uses was conveyed into
Europe by the officers of the Emperor Alexander. One of his greatest
Admirals, named Nearchus, observed the growth of cotton in India, and
the use to which it was put, especially the making of sheets, shirts and
turbans.
Perhaps one of the most careful observers that lived before the
Christian era commenced, was Theophrastus, who wrote some strikingly
correct things about the Cotton plant of India three centuries before
Christ!
In describing the tree he said it was useful in producing cotton which
the Indians wove into garments, that it was not unlike the dog rose, and
that the leaves were somewhat like the leaves of the mulberry tree. The
cultivation of the plant was also very correctly noted as to the rows in
which the cotton seeds were placed, and as to the distances to which
these rows were set. According to Dr. Royle, however, reference is made
to cotton in the "Sacred Institutes of Manu" so frequently that the
conclusion is admitted that cotton must have been in frequent use in
India at that time, which was 800 B.C.
As was to be expected, Persia very early had cottons and calicoes
imported from India. In the sixth verse of the first chapter of Esther
definite reference is made to the use to which cotton was put at the
feasts which King Ahasuerus gave about 519 B.C. "White, green, and blue
hangings" are said to have been used on this occasion, and from
authorities who have specially investigated this subject, we are told
that the hangings mentioned were simply white and blue striped cottons.
This would also confirm the statement that dyeing is one of the oldest
industries we have.
It appears that the Greeks and Romans in good time learned to value
goods made of cotton, and soon followed the Oriental custom of erecting
awnings or coverings for protection from the sun's rays. The Emperor
Caesar is said to have constructed a huge screen extending from his own
residence along the Sacred Way to the top of the Capitoline Hill. The
whole of the Roman Forum was also covered in by him in a similar way.
Coverings for tents, sail cloth made from cotton, and fancy coverlets
were also in use among the people of these stirring times.
And now comes the important question: Was cotton indigenous to India in
these very early times? and was it carried and afterwards planted in
Egypt, Africa, and America?
As an attempt is made to successfully answer this question, our minds
are thrown back to the time when Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, having
heard of India, desired to find a new way to that country. Comparatively
poor himself, he was unable to equip an expedition, and laid his scheme
before the Council of Genoa. They declined to have anything to do with
it, and he is found next presenting his case to the King of Portugal.
Here he alike failed, and he ultimately applied to the King and Queen of
Spain, when he met with success.
The 3rd of August, 1492, found him fully equipped with two ships, and on
his way west to find a new way to India. He first touched the Bahamas
thirty days after setting sail from Europe, and to his astonishment he
was met by the natives, who came out to meet him in canoes, bringing
with them cotton yarn and thread for the purpose of barter. In Cuba he
was surprised to find hammocks made from cotton cord in very general
use. What Columbus observed in the West Indies as to the growth and
manufacture of cotton, was found afterwards to be by no means confined
to these islands, but that in South and Central America the natives were
quite accustomed both to the growth and manufacture of cotton.
Indisputable evidence can be presented to prove that the ancient
civilisations of Mexico, Peru, and Central America, were well acquainted
with cotton. When Peru was subjugated in 1522 by Pizarro, the
manufacture of cotton was in a flourishing condition.
Similarly when Mexico fell into the hands of Cortez in 1519, he too
found that the use of cotton was very general. So delighted was he at
what he saw of the quality and beauty of their manufactured goods, that
he had no hesitation in dispatching to Europe a present consisting of
mantles, to the Emperor Charles V.
Five years after Columbus started on his momentous voyage, another
expedition under Vasco da Gama set out from the Tagus to make the voyage
to India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope.
Immediately Gama had safely reached India, there were others who quickly
desired to follow, and in 1516 another adventurous Spaniard on his way
to India called at S. Africa, and found the natives wearing garments
made of cotton.
There is therefore no reason to question the statement which has
repeatedly been made, that at least three centres are known in which the
Cotton plant from very early times has been indigenous, and that the
peoples of these countries were well acquainted with the property and
uses of the cotton wool obtained from the plant. An average of more than
1,000,000 bales, each weighing 500 lbs., are exported from Egypt every
year, and the question has been raised whether the cultivation of the
plant in Egypt can be said to date far back. This is not so. The fibre
almost exclusively used by the ancient Egyptians was flax, and the
nature of the garments covering the mummies of the ancient Egyptians has
been satisfactorily decided by the microscope. It is very probable that
the cultivation of the plant at the beginning of the thirteenth century
was carried on purely for the purpose of ornamental gardening, and even
when the seventeenth century was fairly well advanced, the Egyptians
still imported cotton.
The nineteenth century, however, has seen important developments in the
cultivation of cotton in Egypt, and now the position attained by this
country is only outdistanced by the United States and India.
=The Botany of Cotton.=--Botanists tell us that the vegetable kingdom is
primarily divided into three great classes--viz., (1) Dicotyledons; (2)
Monocotyledons; and (3) Acotyledons.
Now these names solely refer to the nature and form of the seeds
produced by the plants, and by the first it is understood that a single
seed is divisible into two seed lobes in developing. In the case of the
second, the seed is formed only of one lobe, and in the third the seed
is wanting as a cotyledon, but the method of propagation is carried on
by what are called spores. We have examples of the last-named class in
the ferns, lycopods and horsetail plants. The first two of the
above-named classes have been well called Seed plants. These are again
broken up into divisions, to which the name Natural Orders has been
given. Most of us know, as the following are examined, Anemone,
Buttercup, Marsh Marigold, Globe Flower, and Larkspur, that they have
the same general structural arrangement, but in many particulars they
differ. Thus these natural orders are again subdivided into genera, and
a still further subdivision into species is made.
The Cotton plant is put in the genus _Gossypium_, which is one falling
into the natural order _Malvacae_, and which is one of a very large
number forming an important division of the dicotyledons where the
stamens are found to be inserted below the pistil, and where the corolla
is composed of free separate petals, and where the plant has a flower
bearing both calyx and corolla. So far as numbers are concerned, the
Malvacae cannot be said to be important, but few genera being known to
fall into this order. Three are familiar at least--viz., the Marsh
Mallow, which was formerly used a great deal in making ointment; the
Musk Mallow, and the Tree Mallow. The most important genus in this order
is the Gossypium. This name was given to the Cotton plant by Pliny,
though the reasons for so doing are not clear. Very many species are
known to exist at the present time, and this is not to be wondered at,
when the area in which the plant is cultivated is so vast, and coupled
with the fact that the plant is susceptible to the slightest change and
"sports" most readily.
Differences of soil, climate, position with regard to the sea board, and
variations in the method of cultivation could only be expected to result
in the species being exceedingly numerous. It is not surprising,
therefore, to find that no two botanists agree as to the number of
species comprising the Gossypium family. A list, however, of the
commoner varieties found in various cotton-growing areas of the globe
will be given, but before doing so, it is deemed advisable to give a
general botanical description of the plant.
The Gossypium is either herbaceous, shrubby, or treelike, varying in
height from three to twenty feet. In some cases it is perennial; in
most, as in the cultivated species, it is an annual or biennial. A few
examples are noted for the vast number of hairs found everywhere on the
plant, and on almost every part of the plant also, there may be observed
black spots or glands. Usually the stem is erect, and as a rule the
Cotton plant in form is not unlike the fir tree, that is, its lower
branches are wider than those above, and this gradual tapering extends
to the top of the tree. In consequence of this it is said to be
_terete_. The leaves are alternate, veined and petiolated, that is, they
have a leaf stalk connecting leaf and stem. In shape the leaves are
cordate or heart-shaped, as well as sub-cordate, and the number of lobes
found in the leaf varies from three to seven. The stipules or little
appendages found on the petioles, resembling small leaves in appearance
and texture, are generally found in pairs. The calyx is cup-shaped, and
the petals of the flower are very conspicuous, and vary in colour
according to the species, being brownish-red, purple, rose-coloured,
and yellow. The petals, five in number, are often joined together at the
base. The ovary is sessile, that is, it directly rests upon the main
stem, and is usually three to five celled. The pod or capsule, which
contains the seeds and cotton fibre, when ripe splits into valves, which
vary in number from three to five. A characteristic feature of the pod
is the sharp top point formed by the meeting of the pointed valves. The
seeds are numerous and very seldom smooth, being usually thickly covered
with fibrous matter known as raw cotton. As is well known, the wind
performs a very important function in the dispersal of seeds. It is
clear that when a seed is ready to be set free, and is provided by a
tuft of hair, such as is seen on the cotton seed, dandelion and willow
herb, it becomes a very easy matter for it to be carried ever so far,
when a good breeze is blowing. Most of us have blown, when children, at
the crown of white feathery matter in the dandelion, and have been
delighted to see the tiny parachutes carrying off its tiny seed to be
afterward deposited, and ultimately take root and appear as a new plant.
Much in the same way, before it was cultivated, the Cotton plant
perpetuated its own species. It should be added that the root of the
Cotton plant is tap shaped, and penetrates deeply into the earth.
It would be well nigh impossible to enumerate all the species which are
now known in the Cotton plant family, and it is not proposed here to
describe more than the principal types of the Gossypium. In a report
prepared by Mr. Tracy of Mississippi, U. S. A., no less than one
hundred and thirty varieties of American cotton are given. He says:
"The word 'variety' refers exclusively to the various forms and kinds
which are called varieties by cotton planters, and is not restricted to
the more marked and permanent types which are recognised by botanists.
Of botanical varieties there are but few, while of agricultural
varieties there are an almost infinite number, and the names under which
the agricultural varieties are known are many times greater than the
recognisable forms." The Cotton plant most readily responds to any
changes of climate, methods of cultivation, change of soil or of
fertilizers. So that it is easy to understand in a plant so susceptible
and prone to vary as is the cotton, that new species may in a few years
be brought into existence, and especially by means of proper selection
of the seed, and careful cultivation.
The chief commercial types of _Gossypium_ are--1. _Barbadense_; 2.
_Herbaceum_; 3. _Hirsutum_; 4. _Arboreum_; 5. _Neglectum_; 6.
_Peruvianum_.
_Gossypium Barbadense._--The fine long silky fibres of commerce are all
derived from this species. It is indigenous to a group of the West
Indian Islands named the Lesser Antilles. It gets its name from
Barbadoes, one of the West Indies. At the present time it is cultivated
throughout the Southern States of North America which border on the sea,
in most of the West Indian Islands, Central America, Western Africa
lying between the tropics, Bourbon, Egypt, Australia, and the East
Indies. There is no doubt that the plant comes to its highest and most
perfect state of cultivation when it is planted near the sea. Dr. Evans
says: "It may be cultivated in any region adapted to the olive and near
the sea, the principal requisite being a hot and humid atmosphere, but
the results of acclimatisation indicate that the humid atmosphere is not
entirely necessary if irrigation be employed, as this species is
undoubtedly grown extensively in Egypt." The height of this species
varies from 3 to 4 feet if cultivated as an annual, and from 6 to 8 feet
if allowed to grow as a perennial. When in full leaf and flower, it is a
most graceful-looking plant. Yarns having the finest counts, as they are
called, are all spun from Sea Islands, which belongs to this class. When
we are told that a single pound of this cotton is often spun into a
thread about 160 miles long we can see that it must be exceedingly good
and strong cotton to do this.
Image: FIG. 4.--The Gossypium Barbadense.
_Lint_ is the name given to the cotton which remains when separated from
the seeds. Every other American type of cotton gives a greater
percentage of lint than the Sea Islands cotton, though it should be
stated that the price per pound is greater than any other kind of cotton
grown in the States. There are from six to nine seeds in each capsule
and the prevailing colour is black. A cotton grown in Egypt and known by
the name _Gallini_ is of the Sea Islands type and has been produced from
seed of the G. Barbadense. It should be added that the colour of the
flower is yellow and that in India this plant is known by the name of
Bourbon Cotton.
_Gossypium Herbaceum_.--As indicated by the name, this type is
herbaceous in character, especially the cultivated type. When Lamarck
classified this tree, he gave it the name Indicum because he considered
most of the Indian types and some of the Chinese belonged to this
particular species. India, too, is considered by Parlatore to have been
the original home of the herbaceous type, and he specially fixes the
Coromandel Coast as the first centre from which it sprang. There is much
conflict of opinion in localising the primitive habitat of this type,
and it is now thought that the present stock is probably the result of
hybridisation of several species more or less related to each other.
However, the areas in which this class of cotton grows are very numerous
and extensive, for we find it growing in India, China, Arabia, Persia,
Asia Minor, and Africa. A very characteristic feature of this plant is
that it quickly decays after podding, when cultivated as an annual.
The _Vine Cotton_ grown in Cuba belongs to the herbaceous type and is
remarkable for its large pods, which contain an abnormal number of
seeds. The so-called "Nankeen" cottons are said to be "Colour
variations" of the herbaceous Cotton plant. Many varieties of Egyptian
cottons are produced from this particular class, as well as the Surat
cotton of India.
A feature which distinguishes this type is that the seeds are covered
with two kinds of fibre, a long and short, the latter being very dense.
The process of taking the longer fibre from the seed must be very
carefully watched, as it becomes a troublesome matter to remove the
shorter fibre when once it has come away from the seed with the longer.
Hence great care should be taken in gathering this class of cotton.
Another point which should not be lost sight of is, that the herbaceous
type of Cotton plant readily hybridises with some other varieties and
the result is a strain of much better quality.
_Gossypium Hirsutum_.--This variety is so called because of the hairy
nature of every part of the plant, leaves, stems, branches, pods and
seeds--all having short hairs upon them. By Dr. Royle it is considered a
sub-variety of the Barbadense cotton, and by other American experts it
is given as synonymous with G. Herbaceum. However this may be, the plant
has certain well-defined characteristics which possibly entitle it to be
considered as a distinct type. It has been asserted by a competent
authority that the original habitat of this particular cotton was
Mexico, and that from this country cultivators have imported it
throughout the sub-tropical districts of the world.
It is also stated that longstapled Georgian Uplands cotton belongs to
the Hirsutum variety. In fact most of the types cultivated in America
fall into this class. Parlatore also considers it to be indigenous to
Mexico, and states that all green seeded cotton which is so extensively
cultivated has been obtained from this type originally. M. Deschamps, in
describing the Hirsutum species, says it is divided into two varieties,
one having green seeds, being of a hardier type, and the other having
greyish seeds, being more delicate and growing in the more southern
districts of the States.
_Gossypium Arboreum_.--This plant attains treelike proportions, hence
the name Arboreum. In some cases it will grow as high as twenty feet. It
is also known by the name G. Religiosum, because the cotton spun from
this plant was used only for making threads which were woven into cloth
for making turbans for the priests of India. Dr. Royle on one occasion
while in that country was informed by the head gardener of a Botanical
Garden at Saharunpore that this cotton was not used for making cloth for
the lower garments at all, its use being restricted to turbans for their
heads, as it was sacred to the gods. That is why it also received the
name, "_Deo Cotton_."
One or two interesting features of this type may be pointed out. The
colour of the flowers is characteristic, being brownish and purply-red
and having a dark spot purple in colour near the base of the corolla,
this latter being bell-shaped. Like the herbaceous type two kinds of
fibre are found on the seed and great care is needed in the separation
of them. Also, it should be pointed out that the fibres, in this class
are with difficulty removed from the seed, clinging very tenaciously to
it.
The Arboreum type is indigenous to India and along the sea board washed
by the Indian Ocean. The fibre from this species is much shorter in
average length than any of the preceding varieties.
_Gossypium Neglectum._--This too is an Indian cotton, and according to
Royle the celebrated and beautiful Dacca cotton which gives the famous
muslins, as well as the long cloth of Madras, are made from cotton
obtained from the Neglectum variety. An important feature of this plant
is the small pod which bears the fibre and the small number of seeds
contained in each septa of the capsule, being only from five to eight in
number. Like some preceding forms, the seeds carry cotton of two
lengths, the shorter of the two being ashy green in colour. The longer
fibre is harsh to the touch and white in colour. In many points it is
very similar to the Arboreum type and is considered by some botanists
to be a cross between the Arboreum species and some other. It does not
attain any great height, being often in bush form under two feet. The
country of Five Rivers or the Punjaub, North West Provinces and Bengal,
are the districts in India in which it is mostly cultivated as a field
crop. It has a high commercial value, forming the main bulk of the
cotton produced in the Bengal presidency. This plant is indigenous to
India.
_Gossypium Peruvianum._--So called because Peru was considered to be the
habitat of this cotton. By some authorities this particular species is
for all practical purposes synonymous with the first type
described--viz., Barbadense. By others it is said to be closely allied
to the Acuminatum variety, so named because of the pointed character of
its capsules and leaves. Perhaps the most striking feature of this plant
is the colour of the seeds, which is black. Another interesting point
about the seeds is that they adhere closely to each other, and form a
cone-like mass. Brazil is the home of this particular species, though it
is cultivated here in two forms, as "Tree Cotton" and as "Herbaceous
Cotton." The former is also known by the name Crioulo or Maranhao Cotton
or short Mananams. It appears also that the Tree Cotton is one of the
very few which does not suffer from the depredations of the cotton
caterpillar. What is known as "Kidney Cotton" belongs to this species,
which is sometimes named Braziliense. The name kidney is given because
of the peculiar manner in which the seeds are arranged in the capsule,
adhering together in each cell in the form of a kidney.
The most important countries in which it is grown are Brazil and Peru,
though it is produced in other districts outside these countries, but
not to any great extent.
A very curious cotton which receives the name of "Red Peruvian" is also
produced in South America. On account of its colour, it has only a very
limited sale. This is owing to the difficulty there is in blending or
mixing it with any other cotton of similar quality.
Cottons known generally as Santos, Caera and Pernams are not of this
species--viz., Gossypium Peruvianum, but belong to the first and second
of the types already described.
=The Strength of Cotton Fibres.=--Mr. O'Neill some years ago made many
experiments with a view to obtaining the strengths of the different
fibres, and the following table compiled by him, will be of interest to
the general reader.
Sea Islands 83.9 mean breaking strain in grains.
Queensland 147.6 " "
Egyptian 127.2 " "
Maranham 107.1 " "
Bengueld 100.6 " "
Pernambuco 140.2 " "
New Orleans 147.7 " "
Upland 104.5 " "
Surat (Dhollerah) 141.9 " "
Surat (Comptah) 163.7 " "
From this table it is arguable that the strength of fibre varies
according to the diameter, that is to say, the fibre with the thickest
diameter carries the highest strain. The order, therefore, in which the
fibres would fall, according to strength, would be, Indian, American,
Australian, Brazilian, Egyptian, and Sea Islands last.
=The Chemistry of the Cotton Plant.=--Messrs. M'Bryde & Beal, Chemists in
the Experimental Station in Tennessee, say, "As a rule our staple
agricultural plants have not received the thorough, systematic chemical
investigation that their importance demands." It would appear that until
recent times the above statement was only too true. Now, however, the
United States Government and others have instituted experiments on a
large scale, and everything is now being done in the direction of
research, with a view to improving the quality of this important plant.
A complete Cotton plant consists of roots, stems, leaves, bolls, seed
and lint. Now if these six parts of the plant be weighed, they vary very
much, proving that some of them are more exhaustive than others, so far
as the fertilizing matters found in the soil are concerned. For example,
if water be discarded in the calculation, though this takes up a fair
percentage of the total weight, about 10, it is found that the roots
take up by weight over 8 per cent. of the whole plant, stems over 23 per
cent., leaves over 20, bolls over 14, seeds over 23, and lint only
10-1/2 per cent.
Now this statement is interesting as showing one or two important
features. The weight of the seed is seen to be nearly a quarter of the
whole plant, while the stems and leaves together take up nearly one
half. A very small proportion by weight of the plant is taken by the
lint.
A chemical analysis of the mature Cotton plant yielded the following
substances:--
Water. Potash.
Ash. Lime.
Nitrogen. Magnesia.
Phosphoric acid. Sulphuric acid.
Insoluble matter.
Of ten analyses made with the cotton lint (which takes up about 10-1/2
per cent. of the whole) M'Bryde states that the average amount of water
found was 6.77, ash 1.8, nitrogen .2, phosphoric acid .05, potash .85,
lime .15, and magnesia .16.
He very pertinently remarks also "that if the lint were the only part of
the plant removed from the land on which it is grown, cotton would be
one of the least exhaustive of farm crops. The only other part which
need be permanently lost to the soil is the oil, which also contains
very small amounts of fertilising constituents." In connection with this
he further says "that even when the seed is taken away along with the
lint, cotton still removes smaller amounts of fertilising materials from
the soil than either oats or corn." It should be borne in mind that the
soil upon which cotton is cultivated lies fallow for a greater part of
the year, and the fact of absence of cultivation, with consequent
non-fertilising and non-enriching of land, must tend in the direction of
soil exhaustion by the Cotton plant.
Another useful and important fact in connection with the Cotton plant is
the medicinal use to which the roots are put. According to the _American
Journal of Pharmacy_, the bark from the roots of the Cotton plant
contain an active ingredient which in its effects is very much like
ergot.
Chemical investigations have conclusively proved that the ripe fibre of
the Cotton plant is composed of the following substances:--
Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and they tell us that when cotton is fully
ripe it is almost pure cellulose.
Dr. Bowman has pointed out that the percentage of water in cotton fibre
"varies with different seasons from 1 to 4 per cent. in the new crop,
and rather less as the season advances. Above 2 per cent. of moisture,
however, seems to be an excessive quantity even in a new crop cotton,
and when more than this is present it is either the result of a wet
season and the cotton has been packed before drying, or else it has been
artificially added."
About one fifth of the whole plant by weight consists of the seed, and
an analysis of this shows them to be composed of water, ash, nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, ferric
oxide, chlorine, and insoluble matter.
As a commercial product seeds are exceedingly valuable, and yield the
following substances:--oil, meal, hulls, and linters. When the hulls are
ground they receive the name of cotton seed bran. The inside of the
seed, when the hull has been removed, is often called the kernel and is
sometimes also designated peeled seed, hulled seed, and meats. It is
this kernel seed which, when properly treated, yields large supplies of
oil and meal.