The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-10-13

Asae cotton plant from which our 'tkingI,
e" Is procured, belongs to the natura
sr Of malvacoean plants and Is designated
stany by the generic term Gossypiun,
sS NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
IT'S height, varying from three to five feet
It Is somewhat similar to the okra
In appearance, but is much more
ehed, and its leaves smaller and more
,rrn In shape.
blossom has double calyx whose ex.
has three cases, while it's inside Is
ter and marked by five gasping cuts; it
Iva petals large number OF monadel-
Z Stamina style, two or three stigmates,
Eal cap with three or five valves and as
compartments, which contain, each,
aassll geeds thicbly covered with long,
Es nowy down, which is the cotton proper
lilo branches on the cotton plant are long
jointed, and bear at their joints the boil
ISs3e hollis are each accompanied by wide
tied leaf springing from the branch
The main stalk of the plant is white,
gy and brittle, but it is invested with a
Ss brown skin or bark, which Is plant and
sdingly tenacious.
roots are branchy, with g tap fiber,
h penetrates deeply In the soil, and en-
# the plant to better sustain the effect of
tbs than others.
HISTORY AND ORIGIN.
though known In the earliest ages of the
World, the cotton plant now cultivated in
IA II nited States Is native of America.
nf ftc riattpc IA r ri
@ the Mediterranean.
#svfous to the discovery of America cotton
known In Asia Minor, in Egypt, Persia,
s88##f reek archipelago and in Europe. Pliny
ions certain wool-bearing trees known in
8 part OF Upper Egypt which borders on
ia, and whose fruit were similar to
ads, which bursting, when ripe, displayed
|s#l OF doWny WOOL from which costly gar
#s resembling linen were made. These
3 or shrubs, he adds, are called GOssupiOn,
ylon, whence the tissues made from it's
8#alcL were known as Xytina.
|e finest cloths of this production, which
Z equal to the finest linens, were reserved
ne Egyptian priesthood, whose garments
8@ Of a snowy white color.
rOdOttls also describes the cotton plant
II reducing, In India, q wool of finer and
H$r quality than that Of sheep.
aom this and additional evidences in the
FER 1T is not unlikely that cotton was O
I've OF India, whence, by way of Persia,
88skia and Egypt, through a series of nor
bgressions with Eastern civilization, it
ID Its way to Malta and the Mediterra-
ID coast.
Zen, assuming that among the earliest
atlons to America the colonists were
IA the great Indian peninsula, 1t Is nothing
E#Aair to presume that they may have i'm
8Asd with them the seed of the precious
IN. AT all rates, the plant came from the
Cast to Europe and Africa, and was also
BAd growing in America at the discovery,
~ FACTS would open way to the no less
|@sible assertion that the plant Is peculiar
West Indies, and, that since the discovery
Nv nave interchanged types of such varie-
Bsas were better adapted to their respective
Ryerting now to Pliny it seems very prob
~ that the plant he refers to is the one
Syn as the Malta cotton plant in Europe,
from Egypt and Arabia in that
Hald ana otherwise designated as the herb
ESs1s cotton plant.
Ike designation herbaceous is not proper,
Rbugh 1t Is still maintained among us In
%J nited States, because the stalk of the
t becomes llgnous when grown In warm
Yates, while in temperate zones 1t Is
AEfish altogether, with semi-herbaceous
|RRs; but the two varieties are, notwith-
|ERtng such differences Of appearance,
#T 4SSf the same species.
Ae annual or Malta or semi-herbnccous
@ety and its numerous derivatives are
e cultivated In the United States and in
Eastern hemisphere.
8SBis variety, whose designation may be al
III according to location, Is the stock from
HILL are grown the crops OF the United
Ees, OF India, OF the Levant and of the
slitsrranean coast.
FIRST COTToN-GRowING COUNTRIES.
turing the first years of the Christian era
lou had already become an important ar
R8sof commerce in the ports of the Red Sea
Persian Gulf, and the remote provinces of
HUI, whence the first imports were made,
acquired at that time, All undisputed CO.
eity for their cotton fabrics.
III the time OF the CruSadeS cotton from
Ier than the Indian sources was imported
Istlrope coming mostly from Persia Asia
3tor, Arabia and Egypt. 1t soon afterwards
atnlh one OF the main productions Of Malta,
B Calabria and the Greek Archipelago, as
4 in Tuscany, Sardinia and Corsica.
Che fifteenth century the cultivation of
Ion was quite extensive In Spain, in the
sArsdom Of Valencia, where the first market
crop was valued at 400 quintals, or 10000
bids.
to the Spanish bottanist Ortega,
III alencia crop was raised from the shrub
Eyn plant, which there attained height of
afeet
Aae cotton plants were headed and clipped
N i, as the vine and their computed yields
R6eiphered at an average of fifty hollis per
lid for the first years crop, at 200 for the
1 lid years, and at 600 or more for the third
n after which period the plants yield
MD lessen to insignificant proportions.
IN THE ISLAND OF MALTA,
the Introduction of cotton was made
EAar than in Spain, the variety cultivated
ggHbhe annual, semi-herbaceOus, or Malta
a above described, similar in type and
cteristics to ours.
,1n Malta it's cultivation was extended to
where it became known as the Bar
8co cotton.
q 10 The italian name cotone, denoting the
# downy substance which covers the
D, our word cotton was borrowed.
same custom of clipping the plant is
zion In Malta, where it is usually kept
HE# years, the second years yield being the
lest.
M IN SYRIA,
s# Greek Archipelago, where the cotton
Z was brought from Malta, the Syriotes
red considerable profits from the new
(which to this day continues to be one of
main industries.
IN ASIA,
3 tive land of those cotton plants that
known before the discovery of America. |
tinese seem to have cultivated this crop
larger scale than any other Eastern |
We are to credit their own accounts, cot |
ss known to them thousand years be-
9 "a Christian era and cultivated "a vyaI1 |