Birds and Nature Vol. 11 No. 5 [May 1902]

Bob White, Bob White, pipes out the quail
From old fence posts and mossy stones,
In meadows where the ripened grain
In golden stacks awaits the flail.

A little tuft of feathers grey
That snaps its bill in eager glee
When e’er a fly is caught on wing,
Full forty times calls out Phoebe.

When fragrant dews fall from the sky —
And sinks the sun behind the hill,
From dark’ning woods rings out the cry,
O Whip poor Will – O Whip poor Will.

    – Blandina D. Miller.

THE COTTON PLANT

(Gossypium barbadense, L.)

Theise men ben the beste worchers of Gold, Sylver, Cottoun, Sylk and of all such things of any other, that be in the World.

    – Mandeville, Travels, p. 212.

The cotton plant is undoubtedly one of the most useful plants in the entire vegetable kingdom. As with other exceedingly useful, though common things, we are so accustomed to the blessings we owe to this plant that we almost entirely lose sight of its identity and very existence.

There are a number of cotton yielding plants which belong to the genus Gossypium of the Mallow family (Malvaceæ), the same family to which the Hibiscus and garden mallows belong. The most important species are G. barbadense, which yields the noted Sea Island cotton, and G. herbaceum. Both are extensively cultivated in the United States, the latter species more than the former. Other more or less cultivated species are G. arboreum, G. religiosum and G. punctatum. The cottons are handsome plants with large, showy yellow or purple flowers. They vary from comparatively small and herbaceous to shrubby or even approaching the dimensions of trees. The seeds are borne in a three to five lobed capsule, which ruptures at maturity, thus allowing the snow-white cotton head to appear. The outer surface of the seeds is covered with slender fibers, each fiber being simply a single, greatly elongated epidermal cell. The individual fiber is flattened, twisted upon its axis, flexuous, from one to two or three inches in length. These fibers constitute the cotton of the market, which finds so many important uses in human economy. Of course primarily nature intended these fibers for the special use of the plant itself; being a means of aiding in the distribution of the seeds, and no doubt also serving as a protection against being eaten by animals, as the dense, more or less intertwined growth of insipid, tenacious fibers constitute anything but a tempting morsel. Man, by his ingenuity and skill, has been enabled to utilize this product of nature in his own behalf.

The commercial and technical uses of cotton date back to very remote antiquity. Cotton fabrics were in use in China as early as 2300 B. C. At the discovery of America, beautiful cotton fabrics were found in Brazil, Peru, Mexico and the West Indies. According to the eminent Greek historian and traveler, Herodotus, cotton clothing was quite universally worn 484 B. C. The finest cloth came from the valleys of the Ganges, and not until the close of the campaigns of Alexander the Great did the manufacture of cotton cloth become a distinctive industry in Greece. It appears that during the time of Pharaoh cotton was yet a rare article since it is recorded that this eminent ruler presented Joseph with a costly coat made of this material, as a memento of high esteem. It is also a notable fact that the Egyptian mummies are swathed in linen instead of cotton cloth. No cotton seeds have ever been found in the ancient tombs of Egypt, nor is the plant represented upon the ancient mural paintings of that country.

In the eastern continent India was no doubt the principal cotton growing country; even China obtained its principal supply from that source. Not until about the ninth century of our era was cotton extensively cultivated in China. About the second century Arabian merchants brought cotton from India and began to cultivate it in the vicinity of the Red Sea, and from thence it gradually found its way into Spain about the sixteenth century, and from Spain into Italy and Greece.

No one knows exactly when cotton began to be used and cultivated in the western continent; we know that it must have been used a long time before the discovery of America by Columbus, for reasons already given. Mexican and South American mummy cloth is found to consist largely of cotton.

Cotton is now extensively cultivated in the warmer countries of both hemi-spheres – in the southern United States since the sixteenth century. The cotton plant is in reality a perennial, becoming quite shrubby with age, but in cultivation it is treated as an annual, being grown from seeds planted each spring. Three or four seeds are planted to each hill, the hills being about three feet apart. After sprouting the weaker individuals are removed, and at the end of three or four months the remaining carefully cultivated plants are pruned to make them more spreading and give a better yield of cotton. The plants grow quite rapidly, the cotton maturing about five months after planting. With the exception of the pruning, the planting and cultivation of cotton in the southern states is not unlike the planting and cultivation of corn in the middle states.

The cotton is picked by hand into bags or baskets, spread out and dried, and finally carted to the cotton gin, a machine invented by Eli Whitney (1793), which separates the fibers from the seeds. The cotton is now pressed into bales, weighing from 400 to 500 pounds, for shipment. The cotton fiber is subjected to further processes of cleaning, carding, etc., before it is ready to be manufactured into cloth fabrics, thread, etc.

Nearly all parts of the cotton plant find a use. After the cotton is picked, the stalks are burnt upon the fields or “plowed under” to serve as a fertilizer for the soil, which would otherwise become impoverished very rapidly. The bark of the root is collected and employed medicinally, its medicinal properties being highly lauded by the negroes of the South. The seeds yield the cottonseed oil, which is not unlike olive oil. This oil, however, varies in purity, the purest being used as an adulterant of olive oil or as a substitute for this oil. The less pure grades are used for burning, but more in the preparation of woollen cloth and morocco leather, also as a lubricant for machinery. It is also used as a substitute for almond oil and olive oil in many pharmaceutical preparations and in the manufacture of soap. The seeds from which the oil has been expressed constitute the cottonseed cake, used as a nutritious cattle fodder. In the South a tea made from the seeds is considered a useful remedy in the treatment of malaria and dysentery. A tea made from the leaves is much used medicinally in Jamaica and other islands of the West Indies.

It is, however, the fiber, or cotton, which is the important part of the plant. It would be a tedious and difficult task to describe, or even enumerate, all of the uses to which it is put. It is used as wadding in clothing and quilts. It is used by the bacteriologist in the filtration of air; air passed through a layer of cotton is germ free. It is also used in the filtration of liquids. Purified and variously prepared, cotton is almost indispensable in surgery. It forms an excellent protective covering for wounds, ulcers, burns and scalds. It absorbs secretions and arrests hemorrhages. It is used in the preparation of gun cotton (pyroxylin) nitro-cellulose, collodion and flexible collodion. Gun cotton is prepared by treating cotton with strong nitric acid and is used in gunnery, blasting and in photography. Collodion (collodium) and flexible collodion are used in surgery, in the treatment of ulcers, skin diseases, to arrest hemorrhages, applied to inflamed areas, etc.

The most important part of the entire plant is the fiber or cotton as it is used in the manufacture of cloth. The modern method of cotton manufacture does not date back further than 1760. Prior to that time weaving and spinning were altogether domestic. At first the work was done by means of the ancient distaff and spindle, more recently the spinning wheel. By these only one thread could be produced at a time and, as may be imagined, the process was very slow. Furthermore, the yarn produced was inferior. A fairly good thread could be spun from flax, but the softness, shortness and unevenness of the cotton fiber made it difficult to produce a good uniform yarn by means of such crude apparatus. In fact, so poor was the yarn produced that in weaving it was used only for the weft (transverse thread), while linen, woolen or worsted yarn was used for the warp (longitudinal thread), in order that the cloth might have sufficient durability. During the middle of the eighteenth century the machinery for spinning was much more imperfect than the machinery for weaving. As a consequence, it became necessary to produce better spinning machines. In 1767 Hargreaves invented the “jenny” which spun eight threads at a time. In 1769 Arkwright invented the “waterframe,” or “throstle,” by means of which a much firmer yarn was produced. In 1785 Dr. Cartwright invented the “power loom,” which far surpassed any previous spinning machine. Other improvements were added from time to time, culminating in our highly perfected modern machines, which would require volumes for a complete description. We have machines with thousands of spindles. It is possible to weave a thread one thousand miles or more in length, yet weighing but one pound.

The raw cotton must be subjected to various processes before it is ready for spinning. The bales are opened and the cotton sorted, so as to insure a uniform quality. It is then passed through a scutching, willowing or cleaning machine, where all impurities and undesirable foreign particles are removed. Next it is passed through a carding machine, which straightens out the fibers and lays them parallel. It also passes through the spreading machine, roving machine and finally to the spinning machine.

The finer yarns are spun from Sea Island cotton, from which fine muslins, laces, etc., are made. This cotton has long fibers. The good qualities of short cottons are used in the manufacture of cambrics, calicoes, sheetings, shirtings, etc. Inferior grades of cotton are used for coarse yarns in the manufacture of coarse fabrics. Cotton is also mixed with wool. Yorkshire broadcloth is said to be about half cotton. From warps of cotton and wefts of wool or worsted (a variety of wool) are formed Orleans cloths, Coburgs, mousselines de laine, damasks, etc. There are also fabrics composed of silk and cotton, linen and cotton, alpaca and cotton, etc. It is used in the manufacture of cotton thread for sewing and pack thread for tying bundles, and other cordage.

    Albert Schneider.

THE CLOUD

I bring fresh showers for the thirsty flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shades for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds everyone,
When rocked to rest on their mother’s breast
As she dances about in the sun,
I wield the flail of the lashing hail
And whiten the green plains under;
And then again I dissolve it in rain
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

    – Shelley.