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CULTURAL AND WILD PLANTS
Cotton. Legends, myths, symbolism, description, cultivation, methods of application
Directory / Cultivated and wild plants Content
Cotton plant, Gossypium. Photos of the plant, basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism
Basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism Sort by: Cotton (Gossypium) Family: Malvaceae (Malvaceae) Origin: South and Central America, Africa, India, China Area: Cotton plant is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions Chemical composition: Cotton fiber consists primarily of cellulose, which can be modified to create various types of fabrics. Cotton also contains various micronutrients such as calcium, potassium and magnesium, as well as B vitamins. Economic value: The main product of cotton is cotton fabric, which is used to make clothes, bed linen, towels and other textiles. Cotton is also used in the pharmaceutical and food industries, as well as in the production of paper, oil and other products. In addition, cotton is an important fodder for livestock. Legends, myths, symbolism: In some cultures, cotton is associated with purity and innocence. In the Christian tradition, white cotton is used to make Easter napkins, which symbolize purity and holiness. In addition, cotton can be used as a symbol of peace and kindness. In African culture, cotton is associated with wealth and prosperity. In some African countries, cotton is grown as a major export commodity that helps maintain economic stability and prosperity. In Western culture, cotton is associated with comfort and coziness. Cotton fabrics are widely used for the production of bed linen, clothing and other textile products that add comfort and coziness to the home.
Cotton plant, Gossypium. Description, illustrations of the plant Cotton plant, Gossypium. Methods of use, origin of the plant, habitat, botanical description, cultivation
Of the spinning plants, cotton is of great importance, on the seeds of which fibers 20-50 mm long are formed, which are elongated epidermal cells. In the production of plant fibers, cotton accounts for up to 75%. Up to 75 types of products can be obtained from cotton. One ton of raw cotton (seeds with fiber) produces up to 320 kg of fiber, 650 kg of seeds, 10 kg of short fiber linters 4-5 mm long. Cotton fiber is used to produce household fabrics (satin, chintz, cambric, parachute, etc.), film, and explosives. Lint is used to make artificial silk, paper, and insulating fabrics. The seeds are used to obtain edible and technical oils, and the waste is used as animal feed. The stems are suitable for the production of paper, varnishes, and alcohol. Cotton (genus Gossypium L. spec.), family Malvaceae, is a perennial plant with 35 wild and cultivated species. In cotton-growing regions, mainly annual forms of the species are used. New World cotton plants - medium-fiber (Gossypium hirsutum) and fine-fiber (Gossypium barbadense) - are grown under highly agricultural conditions; Old World cottons - herbaceous (Gossypium herbaceum) and tree-like (Gossypium arboreum) - are used in some areas of Asia. New World cotton accounts for at least 80% of the sown area. On the globe, cotton is distributed mainly between 47 °C. w. and 35° S. w. By its nature, cotton is a short-day plant. As a tropical plant, cotton has high heat requirements. The minimum temperature for germination is 10-12 °C, optimal 25-30 °C. Frosts are detrimental to both seedlings and adult plants. Therefore, early-ripening varieties with a growing season of up to 4,5-5 months are created for the northern cotton-growing zones. During the growing season, cotton requires temperatures of at least 30-35 °C. Temperatures above 40 °C can disrupt the normal processes of photosynthesis and the formation of generative organs. Of the cultivated forms, fine-fiber cotton is more demanding of heat. Cotton is grown in 89 countries around the world. Gross fiber production - 16,63 million tons. The largest areas under cotton are in Asia - 17,02 million hectares, industrial cotton plantations in North and Central America occupy 4,38 million hectares, including 4,06 million in the USA ha. Africa is in third place in terms of cotton planting area - 4,2 million hectares. The yield of raw cotton across the continents of the world varies from 0,94 t/ha (in Africa) to 2,52 t/ha (in Europe), and in Australia - 3,71 t/ha. The highest yields are obtained in the Philippines and Israel - more than 4,0 t/ha. The main producers of raw cotton and fiber - the USA, China - have raw cotton yields from 2,08 (in the USA) to 2,56 t/ha. In India these figures are significantly lower. In Uzbekistan, the average productivity is 2,34 t/ha. In field culture, cotton is an annual shrub 1-2 m high. The root system is pivotal, it penetrates to a depth of 2 m, however, the largest mass of roots is located in a 0,5-meter soil layer. In conditions of excess moisture, the roots are less developed, their tap type is not so clearly expressed. The main stem is vertical, 80 cm or more high. After the development of 3-7 leaves on the main stem, branches with generative organs are formed from the axils of subsequent ones. The sooner the first branch grows, the faster the variety will ripen. The branches are growth (monopodia) and fruiting (sympodia). Monopodia grow from buds in the axils of the lower leaves, and then sympodia of the 2nd order are formed on them. Sympodia of the 1st order appear on the main stem in the axils of the overlying leaves. Each sympodium internode ends with a generative organ - a bud and a leaf, between which the next internode appears. In cotton growing practice, forms with 1-3 monopodia or without them are used more often, and not just with sympodia, on which generative organs develop faster. In turn, in sympodia there is a limiting type of branching, when only one internode is formed, and an unlimited type - when several internodes grow. For the practice of cotton growing, especially for zones with a warm period lasting up to 4,5-5 months, cotton varieties with extremely short (up to 5-10 cm) internodes are more suitable, which shortens the growing season and promotes the use of mechanized harvesting means. The first 2 opposite leaves, formed after emergence, are cotyledonous, entire, kidney-shaped, the next 2-3 are entire, and then - with a dissected leaf blade having 3-5 lobes, a petiole and 2 stipules. Different types of cotton have different blade shapes. Usually the leaf is bare, but sometimes it is pubescent on the back side. The leaf color is light to dark green, sometimes with anthocyanin coloring. The total leaf surface varies from 20-25 to 50 thousand m2/ha, which determines different amounts of dry matter formation, including that for the crop. Flowers from 4 cm or more in diameter are located on the pedicel. The flower has 3 bracts, a calyx, inside of which there is a corolla of 5 white, cream, red petals. Some types of cotton have an anthocyanin spot at the base of the petals. Five stamen filaments fuse into a column with a large number of stamens ending in a 2-celled anther. Pistil 3-5-celled with upper ovary. The number of ovules in the nest varies from 6 to 11. The fruit is a capsule of various shapes and surfaces, with a diameter from 1 to 7 cm. The color of unripe capsules is green. Each capsule nest develops up to 5-10 seeds. The seed is 5-14 mm long and 3-8 mm in diameter, has an ovoid or irregularly pear-shaped form, consists of an embryo and 2 shells. The cells of the rind epidermis are strongly elongated and form a white or cream-colored fiber (rarely brown or greenish). Fine-staple cotton has only a long fiber. In medium fiber - long and short. The fiber develops within 25-30 days starting from the day of flowering. Towards the beginning of ripening, moisture evaporates from the fiber, which leads to its flattening and curling. Some ovules, called "uluk", remain unfertilized, which causes the fiber to stop growing and reduces the quality of the fiber and yarn. Ripe seeds, after removing long and short fibers, have a dark brown, almost black color, weighing 1000 seeds 90-160 g. The plant is very photophilous and grows best when during the growing season at least 60-70% of the days are sunny.
Cotton is demanding on moisture, its transpiration coefficient is at least 500-600. The requirements of cotton for moisture are especially high at the beginning of the growing season and during the period of fruit formation. The lack of water during the period of fruit formation sharply increases the fall of the generative organs up to 90% or more of their total number. Therefore, in the arid zones of cultivation, an irrigated crop is used, and in the humid tropics and subtropics, cotton is cultivated without irrigation with at least 800-1000 mm of precipitation per year. Under optimal conditions, the emergence of seedlings after sowing is noted on the 5-7th day, and the first true leaf is formed after 10-12 days. On the 25-30th day the first buds appear, and after another 25-30 days flowering begins. The flowers open in the morning and fade by evening. On the first day, the color of the flowers is white or cream, on the 2-3rd day it turns pinkish, then purple-red, after which the corolla falls off. The beginning of ripening, i.e., the opening of the first bolls, is usually recorded 2 months after the first buds bloom. The formation of buds, flowering and ripening occur from the bottom up, and thus all 3 phases - budding, flowering and ripening - continue until harvesting. Cotton is a self-pollinator, but cross-pollination has also been observed. More than 30 generative organs can form on a bush, however, due to the fall of flowers and ovaries caused by genetic characteristics and violations of agricultural technology, up to 20-50% of the formed bolls are preserved and mature. Cotton grows best on medium loamy soils when the soil solution reacts from neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 7-8). The plant can withstand mild salinity and can grow in conditions of low-mineralized groundwater up to 1-3 m. On structural, loose soils and with a humus content of up to 3-5%, plants develop better, however, with a high level of farming and the required amount of nutrients, cotton is grown on any soils except saline soils (gray soils, red soils, alluvial soils). Due to the strong susceptibility to wilt fungal disease, cotton is cultivated in crop rotations, where it can occupy no more than 60-70% of the area. The best predecessors of cotton are alfalfa, legumes, and grains. In crop rotation, plants must be provided with the necessary amount of nutrients, and above all nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Considering that per 1 ton of raw cotton, the plant consumes up to 45-50 kg of nitrogen, 15-20 kg of phosphorus and up to 50 kg of potassium, the amount of fertilizer applied must be consistent with the size of the crop and the nutrient content in the soil. Due to the long duration of its growing season, technological operations for cultivating cotton occupy a significant part of the year; There are pre-sowing, pre-sowing, sowing periods and plant care and cleaning. Plowing is carried out with ploughshare or disk plows to a depth of at least 28-30 cm, and when using two-tier ploughshare plows - up to 30-40 cm. In areas that have come out from under alfalfa, the field is disked before plowing. In the same period or in advance on special lines at cotton factories, cotton seeds are brought to sowing conditions. The seed pads are removed mechanically, chemically or aerochemically. For the same purpose, seeds are sometimes coated, i.e., they are coated with sticky substances with the addition of fungicides. Bare seeds are sorted and sized. Typically, the doses of applied nitrogen are 100-200 kg/ha, phosphorus 100-175, potassium 100-125 kg/ha. The main technological operations in the pre-sowing period are the application of organic and mineral fertilizers and plowing. Manure is applied in an amount of no more than 10-15 tons per hectare due to the threat of excessive growth of cotton plants. Sowing begins when the soil temperature at the seeding depth reaches 13-14 °C. The choice of sowing time in the tropics is determined by the beginning of the rainy season, and in the subtropical zone - by temperature conditions. The most progressive sowing methods are frequent nesting and dotted sowing as a variation of frequent nesting, but with precise sowing of seeds. Precision seeding drills with electronic control over the uniformity of seed sowing have also been created. Seed sowing rates vary from 30 to 80 kg/ha. The field surface prepared for sowing can be smooth or ridged. When sowing cotton in ridges, the best thermal and air conditions of the soil are created during the initial period of plant development. Optimal conditions for plants are created with wide-row sowing with row spacing of 60-90 cm and distances between plants from 8 to 12 cm or more, and with nest sowing - 30 cm. Plant density varies widely - from 50 to 60 thousand plants per 1 ha in the tropical zone, up to 130-140 thousand plants in the subtropics. Seeds are planted to a depth of 3-6 cm. During sowing, soil herbicides and starting doses of nitrogen and phosphorus are applied (up to 20 kg/ha of active ingredient). Under irrigation conditions, the direction of sowing should coincide with the direction of watering. In the period from sowing to the emergence of seedlings, if a soil crust forms, it is broken up with harrows or rotary hoes. Plant care is the most intense period when the tasks of creating optimal conditions for the development of cotton plants are solved. Immediately after the emergence of seedlings, the required plant density is formed. As a rule, this is handmade. Maintaining the field in a weed-free state is carried out both by manual weeding and inter-row cultivation, which are carried out 3-5 times during the growing season and maintain the upper (up to 10-16 cm) soil layer in a loose and weed-free state. Pest and disease control is carried out on plantations as needed. Much attention during the growing season is paid to the application of fertilizers, and especially nitrogen. Under irrigated conditions, irrigation furrows are cut before irrigation begins. As a result of irrigation, soil moisture should not fall below 60-70% of the maximum field moisture capacity. Irrigation rates, depending on specific soil-climatic and hydrological conditions, vary from 2 to 9 thousand m3 of water per 1 hectare. Before the ripening of cotton in a number of regions of the world, especially in the dry subtropics, the apical bud of the main and lateral shoots is removed from the plants, i.e., the so-called minting is carried out, which helps to accelerate the opening of the bolls. Ripe raw cotton is harvested manually or using cotton harvesters. Manual harvesting begins when 3-5 boxes open on the bush. It is less productive than machine harvesting, but produces pure, high-quality raw cotton. The use of cotton picking machines makes it possible to replace up to 150-200 cotton pickers. Mandatory for machine harvesting is double defoliation - preliminary chemical removal of leaves, and in some cases, with a large number of immature bolls, desiccation (drying) of the plant is carried out. Authors: Baranov V.D., Ustimenko G.V.
Cotton. Botanical description, plant history, legends and folk traditions, cultivation and use
A widely used fabric, thin, light, easily dyed in bright colors, is chintz. Chintz is a cotton fabric obtained from cotton seed fibers. In the Middle Ages and even in the 1322th century, cotton was not known in Europe. At that time, only fabulous ideas about a ram-tree, which gives vegetable wool, were widespread. This idea was based on confused, inaccurate stories of travelers who arrived from the mysterious eastern countries. These stories even passed into the geographical and botanical books of the time. In the "Journey", written in XNUMX, John Mandeville reports a wonderful creature that he "saw every day" in the kingdom of the Tatar Khan, near the Caspian Sea: "And a kind of fruit grows there like a gourd, and when they (these gourds) are ripe, they are cut in half and they find there a small animal with meat, bones and blood, like a small lamb, with wool on the outside. And they eat both - and the fruit and animal - and this is a great miracle. I also ate this fruit. A drawing is included in the book to prove it. In 1681, a book about Stroops’s journey was published, which contains the following description: “On the western bank of the Volga there is a large dry desert called the steppe. In this steppe there is a strange kind of fruit called “baromets” or “baranch” (from the word " ram", "lamb"), since in shape and appearance it is very similar to a sheep and has a head, legs and a tail. Its skin is covered with down, very white and soft, like silk. It grows on a low stalk, about two and a half feet high, sometimes even higher... His head hangs down, as if he is grazing and nibbling grass; when the grass withers, he dies... It is only true that wolves do not crave anything with such greed as this plant..." How true these “accurate descriptions” of medieval travelers are can be clearly imagined by comparing their drawings with photographs of real cotton plants. The cotton plant is a beautiful plant with palmately lobed leaves that turn towards the sun's rays. That is why cotton is also called: "child of the sun". It needs a lot of light and heat for flowering. Large yellow flowers, shaped like wide bells, change color during the day. Snow-white flower petals first turn pink, then turn red and, already fading, turn purple in the evening. Cotton is a perennial woody shrub or tree that reaches six meters in height, but is cultivated in the fields as an annual plant. On the banks of the Congo in Central Africa, the traveler Stanley saw a wild cotton plant 20 meters high. From the ovaries of faded flowers, boxes filled with cotton wool are formed ("watta" - in Japanese - "cotton plant"). Cotton wool is the hairs that cover the elongated cotton seeds, protecting them from drying out. The seeds contain up to 20 percent fat, and cottonseed oil is pressed from them. Cotton has been cultivated in India for over four thousand years. The soldiers of Alexander the Great (XNUMXth century BC) saw in India cotton fabrics and curtains on windows and doors stuffed with cotton wool to protect against heat, and in Persia - cotton armor on the soldiers of King Xerxes. In India, they made extremely thin and light muslin fabric from cotton, so thin that clothes made from it could be threaded through a ring. Indian muslin, spread in a meadow and moistened with dew, becomes invisible. Eastern poets say that Indian fabrics are “woven by the wind” or by fairies. The magic lies in the clever hands of the Hindus. The Indian loom, made of bamboo, is primitive. The "workshop" is often arranged in the shade of a tree, and in the evening it is dismantled and transferred to a hut. But the best weaving machines still cannot reach the art of the Hindus in the fineness, delicacy and variety of fabrics they produce. Interestingly, this Indian art was known to travelers as early as the XNUMXth century. In the XNUMXth century, the Genoese began to import cotton to Holland and England. The Dutch were the first to weave cotton fabrics. Interestingly, in China, which borders India, cotton was grown until the XNUMXth century only as an ornamental plant in gardens. The Chinese have long been making the best silk fabrics from the threads of the cocoons of the silkworm butterfly, and obtaining fabrics from cotton was not of great importance to them. With the discovery of America, it turned out that cotton growing has an even more ancient history. Cotton was cultivated by the ancient Peruvians, as evidenced by the remains of cotton fabrics in ancient graves excavated in the deserts of Peru and Mexico. Columbus saw large cotton plantations on the island of Cuba (then called Hispaniola). The Indians made nets, hammocks, aprons and scarves from it. The conqueror of Mexico - Cortes, the Mexican king Montezuma presented thirty bales of raincoats made of cotton. They were not inferior in subtlety and brilliance to silk. The brightly colored and feathered cloaks were very beautiful.
American cotton has longer fiber and is more productive, but its bolls do not ripen at the same time, which makes harvesting difficult. The monstrous slavery of blacks is associated with the cultivation of cotton in America. In 1620, the first slave transport was delivered to America. Free inhabitants of Africa were caught, loaded into the holds of ships and brought to America. Different varieties of cotton come from Asia, Africa and America, and they are divided into groups - old world and new world. Novyi Svet varieties of cotton have been brought to different parts of the world. Currently, the best cotton, distinguished by its luster, length and strength of the fiber, is considered "Egyptian", brought to Egypt from Peru. But the Egyptian cotton is late ripening and does not always ripen in the northern regions. Cotton needs a lot of light and heat, and at the same time water. Cotton bolls contain seeds with hairs up to 2,5 centimeters long. Each seed has from 1000 to 7000 hairs. Cotton varieties with pink, blue, green and yellow fibers have been developed. Fabrics made from such cotton do not need to be dyed; they will not fade when washed or fade in the sun. The hairs on wild cotton seeds are barely noticeable, like fluff. Through cultivation and selection, a person obtains seeds from cultivated cotton with hairs 50 millimeters long. Cotton is used not only for the production of fabrics and cotton wool, but is also used in the automotive and aviation industries. Cotton cultivation began for the first time in India, Egypt, and America. In Central Asia, the average cotton yield per hectare is 1 quintals, in the USA - 21 quintals, in Egypt - 8 quintals, in India - 11 quintals. Botanists classify cotton as a member of the mallow family. Mallow, or stockrose, is a well-known beautifully flowering plant common in our gardens. The stems of the mallow, as well as the stems of the rope and kenaf plants, also belonging to the mallow family, are used to obtain fiber. Author: Verzilin N. Cotton. Legends, homeland of the plant, history of distribution
Let's go to a shop that sells fabrics. Let's go along the counters, on which there are tight rolls of various colors. Let's take an interest in what fabrics are most popular. The seller will confidently answer: “Cotton.” And no wonder - these fabrics are the cheapest. And there was a time when they had no idea about them. Clothes were made from flax, hemp or sheep's wool. Where did cotton fabrics come from? For many years in Europe they told a legend about snow-white sheep growing on trees. They said that their fur was thin and light, like fluff. Occasionally, merchants arrived from distant India, bringing amazing fabric - muslin. The merchant took a robe made of muslin and, in front of the astonished people, threaded it through the ring. How could you not believe the legend! There were a lot of people who liked to look at the strange goods, but there were only one or two buyers. Commoners could not afford muslin. In the old days they said: "Across the sea, a heifer is a half, but a ruble is transported." So it was with Muslin. After all, he was carried for thousands of miles. The voyage at that time lasted for many months. There were no steamships yet, and the wind that inflated the sails did not always blow in the right direction. Often ships suffered disasters both from severe storms and from treacherous pirates scouring the seas in search of easy prey. And the fewer goods entered the market, the more expensive they were. Three hundred years ago, clothes made from Indian fabric were available only to the most eminent persons, such as the Queen of England. And then the queen wore such a dress when she had to appear at a gala reception in front of foreign ambassadors. But centuries passed, and the mystery of the wonderful tree was dispelled. It turned out to be not even a tree, but a cotton bush. And of course, no sheep grew on it. What in legend was called sheep's wool was actually plant fiber. When cotton fruits ripen, they open. They seem to be bursting with fluffy cotton balls from the inside. This cotton wool was noticed by the ancient inhabitants of India. From twisted cotton fibers began to receive yarn. And weave a cloth out of it.
Indian peasants not only discovered cotton, but over many centuries they managed to “remake” the plant. The bush has become much shorter in growth - to make it easier to pick cotton. The length of the fibers has increased noticeably: after all, longer fibers produce stronger fabric. In a wild plant, the fibers were yellow and even brown; in a cultivated plant, they turned snow-white: such cotton can be dyed any color. Gradually, Indian cotton spread to many countries with hot climates. But this plant did not have to be brought to America. When Europeans landed on the American continent, it turned out that local residents had long been familiar with cotton. So the honor of discovering this useful plant belongs equally to the peasants of India and the ancient inhabitants of America. Cotton penetrated into our republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia from India. Now we are completely self-sufficient in cotton and even export it abroad. Now the chintz dress, which the Queen of England once sported, is available to every schoolgirl. Author: Osipov N.F. This cotton is thick - it will not be empty. Popular article
"The cotton grower was sitting in the grass, his eyes fixed on the green stems, like a hunter in ambush. He greeted me with a silent gesture, as if I might scare away the animal he was tracking, and invited me to sit next to him. A light, dry crackling sound was heard in the bushes. The crackling sound was heard here and there there, sometimes nearby, sometimes very far away. It was the cotton bolls bursting, and at the same time they made sounds similar to the hissing of roasting corn." This is what the journalist wrote. The cracking of the bolls is a sound for the cotton grower that is both sweet and alarming. It's nice to know that your hands created “white gold”. It is alarming because it is still unknown whether all the boxes will open and whether the rains will interfere with the cleaning. Difficulties begin in the spring. Cotton is a child of the tropics. Let the weather down - and shoots are rare. Have to cross over. It happens that reseeding does not bring good luck. Cotton grower Tursunoy Akhunova recalls how such an incident once happened in her field. The seedlings after reseeding turned out to be unreliable. The chairman came running and shook his head. “We need to water,” he murmured, “otherwise we will ruin the crop. Cotton loves water. If you water it, it will go away!” Tursuna was of a different opinion. It is not necessary to water, but, on the contrary, to loosen the earth and give air to the roots. And then root rot will go, and nothing will grow. The agronomist supported Akhunova. But the chairman stood his ground. The commission was called. The commission walked through the fields for a long time. The decision was unanimous: Akhunov’s rights. The agronomist is right. It is not necessary to water, but to loosen. And the cotton plant that year was a great success. Here's another problem. It would seem quite simple. How to sow - densely or sparsely? But scientists have been working with it for a hundred years now. And so far we have not yet come to a consensus. Let's try to imagine rare crops. The sparser, the more powerful the bushes. The more boxes there are on them. If there are ten bushes on one square meter, then twenty boxes will open on each of them. And if you plant more densely, there will be fewer boxes. It turns out that you need to sow less often? In fact, this question is not at all simple. At the beginning of the century, the director of the Turkestan Experimental Station for Agriculture, R. Schroeder, warned cotton growers: do not plant sparsely, do not chase the number of bolls. I wish I didn't have to cry! Autumn came, and those who sowed rarely fell into despair. There was almost nothing to collect. The bushes grew mighty, even now for exhibition. And of the mass of boxes, barely one tenth ripened. But at the experimental station they collected plenty of fibers. They sown thickly there. The plants were crowded together and grew low. There were very few bolls on them, but every single one of them was ripe, full of fiber. Since then, they began to sow thickly. So that there are fifteen pieces per square meter. Then the rate was further increased. And they sowed no longer randomly, but with an ordinary seeder. Twenty per metre. The harvest was very high. True, some scientists suggested further thickening the crop. Sow fifty and even seventy-five pieces. But it turned out that too much density is also harmful. Everything in moderation. If the density is too high, the plants grow too weakly. And the harvest is decreasing. And the fiber gets worse. You, of course, understand that the most difficult issue is pest control. A lot of them. Perhaps the most dangerous pest is the cotton bollworm. They fight the armyworm using chemicals. But recently, while leafing through the latest issue of an agricultural magazine, I came across an interesting article. It said that they had successfully controlled the fall armyworm in Central Asia with the help of dendrobacillin. The word "dendrobacillin" sounded familiar to me. And I remembered a story that I witnessed a few years ago. This story happened near Lake Baikal. Soon after the war, the Siberian silkworm appeared in the cedar forests of the Baikal region. Its caterpillars crawled in thousands along the cedar needles and ate it. They left bare branches behind. And on the site of cedar forests - forest cemeteries. At that time, Professor of Irkutsk University E. Talalaev came to the taiga. He examined the dead trees, looking for dead caterpillars on the branches. Will there be at least one who died from the disease? I finally found it. And not just one, but several. Ripped. There was a black liquid inside, like thickened mascara. In the laboratory, a deadly bacillus was isolated from a black liquid. Propagated. Have made a preparation dendrobacillin. Loaded onto the plane. Sprayed over dying cedar forests near Lake Baikal. Microbial dust was supposed to cause a massive disease among the caterpillars - an epizootic. Talalaev calculated when the outbreak would begin. The deadline came, but there was no outbreak. The caterpillars were still moving through the forest, crawling from branch to branch. From them in the taiga there was an ominous noise. It seemed as if invisible rain was falling. When I came to Talalaev on Lake Baikal, he was sitting in the laboratory with his head in his hands. I read a silent question in his eyes. Why? Why did caterpillars die in the laboratory from dendrobacillin, but do not die in nature? Has everything really disappeared: money, strength, time, cedar forests? No, it's not gone. The professor was wrong by only a few days. And when they passed, the creeping armada immediately fell to the ground. At the same time, cotton bolls attacked cotton plants in Central Asia. Either they didn’t have enough chemicals there, or for some other reason, but Talalaev received a letter asking him to send his drug. The professor still had dendrobacillin. He shared it with the cotton growers. Soon the scoop was finished. The Siberian drug is still effective today. And now a few words about the jackal, which is directly related to the cotton plant. The jackal is a harmless creature, but he is always under suspicion. Either he will eat the grapes, or he will run into the melon patch and bite off a piece of melon. The melon growers, of course, are offended. They complained to the poet, and he wrote the following poem: “We won’t sleep at night, we’ll guard the melons, // Otherwise the jackals will fly in and eat our melons!” The melon growers probably didn’t think about the fact that the jackal does more good than harm. Cotton plants are often damaged by crickets. The jackal loves crickets more than melons. During the night he destroys about forty to fifty. My story would not be complete if I did not mention weeds. They also interfere with the growth of cotton. And they are fighting with them. The easiest way, of course, is to spray the plantations with pesticides. But if you think about it, you can find a completely harmless and safe way. And not even alone. Scientists have proposed two-tier plowing. And the weeds immediately began to decline. Fewer weeds means less wilt (a dangerous disease caused by the verticillium fungus). In the fight against wilt, resistant varieties are bred. Even the small children of cotton growers now know about them. Tursunoy Akhunova says: when the first seeds of wilt-resistant varieties were brought to their collective farm, her daughter was the first to report them with delight. Varieties by varieties, but they found an even simpler remedy. We noticed that if you sow alfalfa, then after it the wilt will be two or even three times less! Cotton growers were also tasked with seeds. At first they didn't pay attention to them at all. They just threw it away like unnecessary trash. They dumped them in heaps and they rotted in the sun. Clouds of flies hung over them. Then they discovered that they were quite edible for livestock. Especially for pigs. They began to take out the rotting wealth to where lazy pigs basked in puddles. The hawks devoured the free food with gusto. Lie down, rest and eat! The idyll, however, did not last long. Chemists soon discovered an excellent oil in the seeds. Immediately the pig diet was limited. Now the oil went to the people, and the pomace to the cattle. And then there was a hitch again. The pigs' liver and kidneys began to work poorly. They accumulated a pale yellow poison from the seeds - gossypol (named after the cotton plant - gossypium). Gossypol appears to be harmless to ruminants. The cows ate the cake without ill effects. The chickens did not seem to suffer from gossypol either. But they began to notice that their eggs, after lying in the refrigerator, showed strange transformations. The yolk takes on a deathly olive color. Eating such eggs is unpleasant. However, they found a way out. Added iron to the feed. Toxic properties have disappeared. In recent years, it has been possible to create several varieties of cotton that are free from gossypol. As for the oil, scientists have noticed: the best comes from the best seeds. They were sent to the factory. For sowing, they left what was worse. Here crops began to fall. I had to urgently rebuild and divide good seeds equally between the field and the plant. Meanwhile, the fields kept expanding. Guza, an old cotton plant that has been grown in Central Asia for centuries, has long been forgotten. Guza produced, in general, good yarn. It was silky. But the fiber was short. When the seeds were separated, there was very little left. And the boxes were almost never opened. Academician N. Vavilov noticed this long ago. Back in the thirties, he went to Mexico and found a replacement for guse there. Now there are many different varieties. They produce thin and very long fiber. Author: Smirnov A. Sheep on a branch. Featured Article
The national emblem of Pakistan depicts a shield divided into four parts. In the upper left, looking closely, we will see cotton. And on the coat of arms of Angola - cotton. And on the coat of arms of Tanzania. And in Asia, and in Africa, and even in America - wherever it is warm - the wonderful cotton plant grows. Cotton, strictly speaking, refers to the soft white fibers that cover the cotton seeds in the ripened fruits. Speaking less strictly, the wonderful plant itself is often called cotton. When the soldiers of Alexander the Great came to the banks of the Indus River, they were struck by branchy trees five to six meters high. The fruits on them looked like boxes the size of a walnut, and in them there was delicate white cotton wool. Not knowing what to do with it, the Macedonians stuffed their pillows with this down. The soldiers were also amazed by the clothes of the local residents - their fabric was surprisingly beautiful and soft. Alexander the Great himself, his officials and soldiers wore clothes made from much coarser woolen fabrics. Only later did they realize that the Indians made silky threads from wood fluff. At the same time, the fabric woven by skilled craftsmen turned out to be so thin that a dress made from it could be threaded through a ring or ring. And Indian muslin, spread on the grass and moistened with water, became practically invisible. Probably, the soldiers would have been much less amazed by all this if they had known that the inhabitants of India began to weave from wood fluff as early as 4000 BC. Still an experience! Alexander the Great himself was not as surprised as his soldiers. He was an educated man, very enlightened for his time. He, no doubt, read the books of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, called the “father of history” and who lived about a century before the birth of Alexander. So, Herodotus wrote that in India there are strange trees that, instead of fruits, produce wool that is superior in quality to that of sheep. Of course he meant cotton. But why trees? We, modern people, know that our cotton plant is a bush! The fact is that this wonderful plant grows like a tree in some places, and like a shrub in others. For example, Chinese cotton is a bush, quite small. In ancient times, it was valued not at all for boxes of cotton wool. Until the XNUMXth century, cotton remained an ornamental plant in China, it was bred in gardens and even in rooms. The Chinese had quite good reasons for this: the beautiful flowers of this wonderful plant, having the shape of wide bells, change their color during the day. The snow-white petals first turn pink, then turn red and turn purple in the evening. This is not only very beautiful, but also convenient: you can check the time by the cotton flowers, like clockwork. But in Africa, cotton is a tree, and what a tree! The English journalist and traveler Henry Morton Stanley saw twenty-meter-high wild cotton trees on the banks of the Congo River.
In America, cotton is also a shrub, as in China and Central Asia: for example, in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. When Christopher Columbus, having sailed to the American continent, landed on the island, which he called Hispaniola (now Haiti), the natives, along with other gifts, brought him cotton. Columbus liked the plant fluff so much that, having imposed a tribute on the local residents in favor of Spain, he allowed them to contribute whatever tax they wanted: if you wanted - with golden sand, if you wanted - with cotton. Hispaniola had plenty of both. There is even more cotton - the Indians grew cotton on special plantations and, having processed it, made nets and hammocks, colorful scarves and fabrics from it. A few decades later, the conquistador Fernando Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, received from Montezuma, the leader of the Aztec Indians, thirty bales of cotton clothes and learned that a wonderful plant has been bred here since time immemorial. And again, as once Herodotus, compared cotton with sheep's wool. That's how much a way of looking at things means! The Indians of America, where sheep had never lived, when they first saw these animals, brought to the continent in 1541, were, on the contrary, shocked by the similarity of previously unseen wool with such familiar, ordinary cotton. And the Europeans, meeting cotton plants here and there, continued to remember the familiar sheep and rams. Back in the XNUMXth century in Western Europe, there was a story about a southern tree, on whose branches hung whole rams with beautiful white wool, like apples or pears. However, other opinions were also expressed. The English geographer John Mandeville wrote in his scientific work: “And a kind of fruit grows among the Tatar Khan like a small pumpkin, and when these fruits are ripe, they break them in half and find inside an animal with meat, bones and blood, like a small lamb covered with wool, and This wool is soft and extremely thick." Here is another message in this regard: “On the western bank of the Volga there is a large dry desert called the steppe. In this steppe grows a strange kind of plant called baranch (from the word “ram”, “lamb”). In shape and appearance, the fruit of this the plant is very reminiscent of a sheep and has legs, a head and a tail. Its skin is covered with down, very white and soft, like silk. Wolves covet nothing with such greed as this plant." The most amazing thing is that this was written in 1681, when they had already learned to process cotton fruits in Europe: in Spain, Italy, Holland, England. True, at first only wicks for oil lamps and candles were made from cotton. In America, the fate of cotton also developed in a unique way. Having completely destroyed the culture of the indigenous Indians, the white people also eradicated the cotton culture. When they began to grow it again in the southern states of the United States and in 1784 the first ship with cotton was sent to Europe, some misunderstanding arose at customs in the port of Liverpool. Customs officers did not believe that the cotton was American and demanded payment of an additional duty imposed on the import of goods from Asian countries. However, ships carrying American cotton soon became quite commonplace. Cotton growing developed there rapidly and successfully thanks to the use of black slave labor on the plantations. Many countries, including Russia, bought American cotton. Although cotton has been growing in Central Asia for a long time. But, as economists noted at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, “delivery of Turkestan cotton is very expensive, and it takes much longer to transport it. Cotton from Kokand to Moscow can be delivered only within ninety days, and from America - in just forty ". But communications, industry, and technology developed. Nowadays, it is impossible to even imagine life without fabrics and other cotton products. Every schoolchild knows about the existence of cotton - a wonderful plant that bears fruit in bolls. When ripe, each such boll bursts, making a pop, and cotton comes out from the cracks. Author: Gol N.
Cotton plant, Gossypium. Recipes for use in traditional medicine and cosmetology
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Cotton plant, Gossypium. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing
The cotton plant is a high-yielding plant that is grown to produce cotton. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing cotton: Cultivation:
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