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.