Themes

"Information about cotton are mentioned in a series of famous Indian poems written in 600 BC called the Rigveda — one of the most sacred texts of Hinduism."

"In India there were trees growing wild, which produce a kind of wool better than sheep’s wool in beauty and quality, which the Indians use for making their clothes. During this period, the famous Ajanta Cave carvings show innovative cotton growers in India had invented an early roller machine to get the seeds out of the cotton."

"Cotton is almost pure cellulose, with softness and breathability that have made it the world's most popular natural fibre."

"Almost pure cellulose, cotton is the world's most widely used natural fibre and still the undisputed "king" of the global textiles industry."

"More than 1326 species of insects have been reported in commercial cotton fields worldwide but only a small proportion are pests."

"Cotton is infected by a range of diseases which can affect the quality of the fibre and seed, as well as the yield and cost of production of the cotton crop."

"The world produces around 25 million tonnes of cotton every year. Six countries - China, Brazil, India, Pakistan, the USA and Uzbekistan - account for more than 80% of total production."

"Cotton trash can be used as a bulking agent to improve the efficacy of animal manure composting. There has also been some interest in using cotton waste to ferment to produce ethanol."

"Cotton seed oil has been in common use since the middle of the nineteenth century and achieved GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe) status under the United States Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act because of its common use prior to 1958 (ANZFA 2002). It is used in a variety of products including edible vegetable oils and margarine, soap, and plastics."

"Extracts from cotton plants, which would be primarily gossypol, have been used as a medicine. In traditional medicine G. barbadense leaves have been used as a treatment for nausea during pregnancy or for ‘proud flesh’ (swollen tissue around a wound)."

"G. barbadense extracts are still sold for treatment of hypertension, fungal infection and menstrual stimulant."

"The processing of cotton seed oil involves a series of steps including heating, addition of sodium hydroxide, bleaching with clay, filtering and treating with steam under vacuum."

"It is made into specialty materials suitable for a great variety of applications: fire-proof apparel, cotton wool, compresses, gauze bandages, sanitary towels and cotton swabs. Industrial products containing cotton include book bindings, industrial thread and tarpaulins."

"An estimated 60% of cotton fibre is used as yarn and threads in a wide range of clothing, most notably in shirts, T-shirts and [w:Jeans|jeans]], but also in coats, jackets, underwear and foundation garments."

"De-linted cotton seed (ie. seed with no lint or linters) is processed into oil, meal and hulls."

"Gossypium hirsutum L. was named due to its hairiness (hirsute), although it has also been referred to as Gossypium hirsutum ssp. latifolium, Gossypium hirsutum var. punctatum, Gossypium jamaicense, Gossypium mexicanum, Gossypium morrillii, Gossypium punctatum, Gossypium purpurascens, Gossypium religiosum, Gossypium schottii, Gossypium taitense and Gossypium tridens. It is commonly known as upland cotton, American cotton or Mexican cotton."

"G. barbadense L. was named after its assumed habitat of Barbados. It has been known by alternative scientific names as Gossypium evertum, Gossypium peruvianum, Gossypium vitifolium and Gossypium brasiliense (USDA 2006). It is commonly known as Creole cotton, Egyptian cotton, extra long-staple or ELS cotton, Indian cotton, Sea Island cotton or [[w:Pima cotton|Pima cotton."

"Archaeological records indicate that Gossypium fibre has been used since 6000 BC. A Gossypium thread, used to string copper beads, from w:MehrgarhMehrgarh in Pakistan has been dated at 6th millennium BC."

"In nature, G. hirsutum and G. barbadense are perennial shrubs. However, in the agricultural system both species are cultivated as annuals, with destruction of plants after harvesting the fruit for seed and fibre. The plants are mainly grown for their fibre, cotton lint, which is used in textiles and clothing."

"There is the illusion of "increased command over Nature," meaning that cotton is cheap and that ten miles of country road on a bicycle have replaced four on foot."

"I only had to recall the previous winter in the cabin, when we had only cotton blankets, and had rags on top of us."

"In the cotton States, after the war, the simple and ignorant w:NegroesNegroes made the crops for the white planter on shares."

"Cotton is currently the leading plant fibre crop worldwide and is grown commercially in the temperate and tropical regions of more than 50 countries."

"We hate war. We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown, and when strawberries bloom in Israel."

"We [Americans] never really did have a real sense of humor. Not satire, anyway. We're a fatheaded, cotton-picking society. When we realize finally that we aren't God's given children, we'll understand satire."

"Before the Civil War, the Southern states were selling a lot of cotton to England and didn't seem to mind British occupation. By and large, the Revolutionary War wasn't at all great for business."

"...that we manufacture everything there except men; we blanch cotton, and strengthen steel, and refine sugar, and shape pottery."

"It is estimated that cotton is cultivated on approximately 2.4% of the World’s arable land."

"Production of Khadi included cotton growing, picking, ginning, cleaning, carding, slivering spinning, sizing, dyeing, preparing the warp and woof, wearing and washing. Gandhi's plea for Khadi was also intended to serve as a base for many village industries such as hand grinding, hand pounding, soap making."

"We come and go. Asa di Var: Make compassion the cotton, contentment the thread, modesty the knot and truth."

"O Nanak, the shaven-headed ones are devils. They are not pleased to hear these words. When it rains, there is happiness. Water is the key to all life. When it rains, the corn grows, and the sugar cane, and the cotton, which provides clothing for all."

"In Georgia where children work day and night in the cotton mills they have just passed a bill to protect song birds. What about the little children from whom all song is gone?"

"Mao is a sometime Yin sometime Yang strange man, he has a soft-as-cotton outer layer, but at the same time has sharp needles hiding inside...I do not think he could achieve anything, at the end he will be crushed inside my palm."

"Over money and religion there's more blood to spill. The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal, what's the deal?"

"Platero is a small donkey, a soft, hairy donkey: so soft to the touch that he might be said to be made of cotton, with no bones. Only the jet mirrors of his eyes are hard like two black crystal scarabs. I turn him loose, and he goes to..."

"You dare not make war upon cotton! No power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is king."

"...and he stuck a bit of cotton on the second wound. With each stroke of the razor, another bit of cotton joined the crop sprouting on the Hoca’s left cheek, “Now”, said the barber, “I will do the other side”."

"I am carrying so much cotton that I can't sleep thinking about it. It is wearing me out. What can I do?"

"And you prate of the wealth of nations, as if it were bought and sold, The wealth of nations is men, not silk and cotton and gold."

"Where white men rent farms and live like niggers and niggers crop on shares and live like animals, where cotton is planted and grows man-tall in the very cracks of the sidewalks..."

"Cotton has been spun, woven, and dyed since prehistoric times. It clothed the people of ancient India, Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, and their use spread to the Mediterranean countries."

"Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by."

"Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay, Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away, , Gone from the earth to a better land I know, I hear their gentle voices calling “Old Black Joe”."

"The Cotton Mill invented in England, within the last twenty years forms an item of great importance in the general mass of national industry….To this invention is to be attributed essentially the immense progress, which has been so suddenly made in Great Britain in the various fabrics of cotton."

"Without slavery there is no cotton; without cotton, there is no modern industry. It is slavery that has given value to universal commerce, and it is world trade which is the condition of large scale industry."

"That hard work included picking cotton at age seven in the rows beside Mama Nelson. Picking cotton is hard and painful work, and the most lasting lesson I learned in the fields was that I didn't want to spend my life picking cotton."

"Specific areas of production include countries such as USA, India, China, America, the Middle East and Australia, where climatic conditions suit the natural growth requirements of cotton, including periods of hot and dry weather and where adequate moisture is available, often obtained through irrigation."

"All work, even cotton spinning, is noble; work is alone noble."

"Whenever anyone who takes a scientific interest in cotton growing, or in the natural history of this part of the world, comes to visit Tuskegee, he invariably seeks and consults Professor Garver."

"But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her, barefoot and disheveled, standing outside my window in one of the fragile cotton dresses of the poor. She will look in at me with her thin arms extended, offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup of light."