urbans of the priests. Commercially it is of comparatively minor
importance.

The following table, summarized from the _Handbook to the Imperial
Institute Cotton Exhibition_, 1905, giving the length of staple and
value on one date (January 16, 1905), will serve to indicate the
_comparative_ values of some of the principal commercial cottons. The
actual value, of course, fluctuates greatly.

Length of Staple. Value
Inches. Per lb.
Sea Island Cotton-- s. d.
Carolina Sea Island 1.8 1 3
Florida " " 1.8 1 0
Georgia " " 1.7 11-1/4
Barbados " " 2.0 1 3

Egyptian Cottons--
Yannovitch 1.5 9-1/4
Abassi 1.5 8-3/4
Good Brown Egyptian (Mitafifi) 1.2 7-1/2

American Cotton--
Good middling Memphis 1.3 4-2/5
Good middling Texas 1.0 4-1/5
Good middling Upland 1.0 4

Indian Cottons--
Fine Tinnevelly 0.8 4-1/4
Fine Bhaunagar 1.0 3-7/8
Fine Amraoti 1.0 3-7/8
Fine Broach 0.9 3-13/16
Fine Bengal 0.9 3-11/16
Fine ginned Sind 0.8 3-11/16
Good ginned Kumta 1.0 3-1/2

The close relationship between the length of the staple and the market
price will be at once apparent.

_Cultivation._--Cotton is very widely cultivated throughout the world,
being grown on a greater or less scale as a commercial crop in almost
every country included in the broad belt between latitudes 43 deg. N.
and 33 deg. S., or approximately within the isothermal lines of 60 deg.
F.

The cotton plant requires certain conditions for its successful
cultivation; but, given these, it is very little affected by seasonal
vicissitudes. Thus, for example, in the United States the worst season
rarely diminishes the crop by more than about a quarter or one-third;
such a thing as a "half-crop" is unknown. Various climatic factors may
cause temporary checks, but the growing and maturing period is
sufficiently long to allow the