The Story of the Cotton Plant.

by Frederick Wilkinson.

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 ill.u.s.trate 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.

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 ma.s.ses 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 pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.s before reaching the final stages.

Nature provides no lovelier sight than the newly opened capsules containing the pure white and creamy flocculent ma.s.ses 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 cla.s.ses 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 a.s.sumed, 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 gra.s.s 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 ill.u.s.trious traveller left his native country in 1322, and for over thirty years traversed the princ.i.p.al 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 G.o.d is Marveyllous in his Werkes."

No wonder that many accepted his account of the "Vegetable Lamb" without question. When a n.o.bleman 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 pa.s.sed through many changes. First one would a.s.sert what he considered to be the right solution, and this was immediately challenged by the next investigator, so that a.s.sertion 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 navely 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 Halicarna.s.sus 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 circ.u.mstances 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 surpa.s.sing 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 Inst.i.tutes 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?