Cotopaxi. tion of the s. and the higher plains is occupied by heaths and woods, there are, here and there, fertile spots; and in the n. the influence of the neighboring sea is favorable to vegetation. The cultivation of flax and hemp, with pasturage and iron-mining, supply employment in the mountainous districts; while in the sheltered valleys and on the coast-levels all European kinds of grain, with pears and apples and other fruits, are produced; and maize is cultivated, but does not always ripen. The coasts are well supplied with various kinds of fish. The department is divided into the five arrondisse ments of St. Brieuc, Dinan, Loudéac, Lannion, and Guingamp. The chief town is St. Brieuc. COTES WOLD, or COTSWOLD HILLS, a range of oolitic and lias hills, running through the middle of Gloucestershire, from Chipping Camden in the n.e., by Cheltenham and Stroud, to near Bath in the s.w. They are parallel to the Avon and Severn, and separate the lower Severn from the sources of the Thames. They are 54 m. long, and in some parts 8 broad, and cover 312 sq.m., with an average height of 500 to 600 feet. The highest points are Cleave hill, 1134 ft., and Broadway hill, 1086 feet. The soil is a clayey loam, with gravel and stone-brash. The surface is generally bare, with little wood; corn, turnips, and sainfoin are grown, and coarse-wooled sheep fed on them. At Stroud, they are crossed by the Thames and Severn canal, and the Swindon Junction railway. COTHEN, or KÖTHEN, an ancient t. of Germany, in the duchy of Anhalt, 22 m. s.w. of Dessau, and about 82 s.w. of Berlin, on a tributary of the Saale, and at the junction of railways from Berlin, Magdeburg, Bernburg, and Leipzig. The streets are broad, the town is neat and well built, is surrounded by high walls, and is divided into the old and new town. It contains a castle with three towers, several churches and schools, a synagogue, a library, a handsome railway station containing a gaming-house, and various charitable institutions. Sugar from beet-root is largely manufactured here. Pop. '80, 16,155. COTHUR'NUS. See BUSKIN. COTICE, or COST, in heraldry, one of the diminutives of the bend (q.v.). CO-TIDAL LINES, a system of lines on a globe or chart which show the movement of the ocean tidal waves. The lines mark the places of high water at the same moment. COTIL'LON (Fr. under-petticoat), the name of a brisk dance, of French origin, performed by eight persons. The quadrille, which superseded it, is only a new variety of the cotillon. COTINGA, Ampelis, a genus of birds of the family ampelida, or chatterers (q.v.), having a rather feeble and deeply cleft bill, and feeding both on insects and fruits. They are natives of South America, inhabit moist places, and are remarkable for the splendor of the plumage of the males during the breeding-season. Azure and purple are then their prevalent colors. During the rest of the year, they are clothed in a tame gray or brown. COTONEASTER, a genus of plants of the natural order rosacea, suborder pomacea, having polygamous flowers; a top-shaped calyx, with five short teeth; five small, erect petals; erect, short stamens; and a top-shaped fruit, the nuts of which adhere to the inside of the calyx, but do not cohere in the center. The species are pretty numerous, shrubs or small trees; some of them evergreen; with simple undivided leaves, more or less woolly beneath; small flowers in lateral cymes; and small fruit not agreeable to the palate, but the bright color of which, and its remaining on the tree in winter, make them very ornamental. C. vulgaris is a deciduous species, a native of hills in Europe and Siberia, and said to be found wild in a single locality in Wales. C. tomentosa is also found in the Alps. Most of the species are natives of mountainous parts of Asia; they are sufficiently hardy for the climate of Britain, and have become among the most common of our ornamental shrubs. Some of them, as C. rotundifolia and C. microphylla -both from the n. of India-are much used for covering walls. COTOPAX'I, the loftiest active volcano in the world, is in Ecuador, in the eastern chain of the Andes, and about 50 m. s. of the equator. Humboldt gave the height at 18,880 ft.; Reiss, the first to ascend it (in 1872), found it to be 19,500 ft. above the sea. The valley at its foot, however, is itself 9,000 ft. high. The upper part of C., a perfect cone of 4,400 ft., is entirely covered with snow, excepting that the immediate verge of the crater is a bare parapet of rock. Reiss estimated the crater, which is elliptical, as 1500 ft. in depth. Below the snow is a well-marked barren belt covered with lichens and shrubs, below which again is forest. Smoke issues from the summit; sounds as of explosions are occasionally heard; and above, a fiery glow is often visible by night. Lava rarely flows even during eruptions, but flame, smoke, and immense volumes of ashes are then ejected; and when the heat melts large masses of the snow lying on the sides, destructive floods are occasioned in the valleys beneath. The first eruption recorded was in 1533. Others followed in 1698, 1743, 1744, and 1768, the most terrible of all. On the latter occasion ashes were carried 130 m. distance, and thickly Cotton. covered an extensive area. C. was quiet till 1851. In 1854, 1855, and 1856, there have again been eruptions. Whymper, 1880, gave the height as 19,600 ft. COTRO NE, a t. of Italy, in the province of Catanzaro, built on a point of land projecting into the sea, in lat. 39° 7' n., long. 17° 10' east. It is almost surrounded by the Esaro (ancient Æsarus), which here has its embouchure. C. is very strongly fortified. Its streets are dark and narrow, and its port of no importance; pop. above 7,000. C., however, possesses interest from its antiquity and its historic associations. It owes its origin to a colony of Acheans, as far back as 710 B.C., its ancient name being Croton or Crotona. It soon became prosperous, wealthy, and powerful. Its walls measured 12 m. in circumference, and the territory over which it extended its sway was considerable. Its inhabitants were celebrated for athletic exercises, and they carried off most of the prizes at the Olympic games. Milo was its most renowned athlete. Pythagoras settled here about the middle of the 6th c. B.C.; but the influence which, by means of a league of his formation, he exercised, became obnoxious to the citizens, and he was expelled. About 510 B.C., C. sent forth an army of above 100,000 men to fight the Sybarites, who were utterly defeated, and their city destroyed. The war with Pyrrhus completely ruined the importance of C., and in the 2d c. B.C. it had sunk so low, that a colony of Romans had to be sent to recruit its well-nigh exhausted population. It never afterwards recovered its prosperity. Some ruins belonging to the old, exist in the vicinity of the modern city, the most important of which is a Doric column, part of a once magnificent temple to Juno, on cape Colonne or Nau (the Naus of the ancients). COTTA, the name of a very old German publishing-house, established at Tübingen in 1649, and still one of the most flourishing in Germany. The family came from Italy about the beginning of the 15th century. Its most prominent member was Joh. Friedr., Freiherr von C., a meritorious theologian of the 18th century. JOH. FRIEDR., FREIHERR VON C., one of the most eminent publishers that Germany ever produced, was b. at Stuttgart, 27th April, 1764. He was educated at the university of Tübingen, and for some time practiced as an advocate. In 1787, he undertook to conduct the family book-trade at Tübingen; and in 1795, established the Horen, a literary journal, under the editorship of Schiller. In the same year, he commenced two larger periodicals, the Politischen Annalen and the Jahrbücher der Baukunde. In 1798, ne established the Allgemeine Zeitung-still published at Augsburg-the Almanach für Damen, and other works of a similar kind. C. now began to publish the works of the illustrious modern authors of Germany, such as Goethe, Herder, Fichte, Schelling, Jean Paul, Tieck, Voss, Therese Huber, Matthisson, the Humboldts, Joh. von Müller, and Spittler. Besides the periodicals already mentioned, C. established the Morgenblatt and the Literaturblatt, and carried on the Kunstblatt, founded by Schorn. In 1810, he went to live at Stuttgart. The nobility of his family, which dated far back, was confirmed in his person under the title of Freiherr C. von Cottendorf. In 1824, he introduced the first steam-press into Bavaria, and, shortly after, founded at Munich the literary and artistic institute. He died 29th Dec., 1832. C.'s political principles were liberal, but temperate. In the diet of Würtemberg, and afterwards as president of the second chamber, he was always the fearless defender of constitutional rights. In manners, C. was simple and pure; and although covered with titles and orders from different governments, he had neither the pride nor the selfishness of a hereditary patrician. The first Würtemberg proprietor who abolished servitude on his estates, C. also furthered the interests of his farmers by building model-farms, and by setting an example in all rural improvements. COTTAGE, a small dwelling-house, detached from other buildings, and usually of one story in height. Originally applied to a humble order of dwellings in the country, the term C. now embraces a wide variety of structures, from the cottage orné of the French, to the simple but not unattractive cabin in the English rural districts, and the mountain chalet of Switzerland. In England, where universal security enables the people to establish dwellings in retired and picturesque situations, the building of cottages has been brought to great perfection; and it may be said with truth, that in no country in the world are there to be seen such a variety of beautiful cottages, scrupulously clean and neat in the interior, and ornamental exteriorly with flowers, shrubs, and bright green lawns. The different styles in which this class of houses may be built are well described in the elaborate work of J. C. Loudon, on Cottage Architecture. The subject of proper C. accommodation, as regards the laboring peasantry of England and Scotland, has lately engaged serious attention. See papers in the Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. The best methods of keeping cows, pigs, poultry, bees, etc., are ordinarily described under the comprehensive title of C. economy. See Cobbett's Cottage Economy, also Chambers's Information for the People. COTT BUS, or KOTT'BUS, a t. of Prussia, in the province of Brandenburg, situated on the Spree, about 70 m. s.e. of Berlin. It is an ancient place, surrounded by walls, and it has an old castle with towers, a royal palace, a gymnasium, and manufactures of beer, woolens, linen, leather, and tobacco. Pop. '80, 25,584. COTTIN, SOPHIE, a very popular French authoress, was b. at Tonneins (Lot-etGaronne) in 1773. Her maiden name was Ristaud. Educated at Bordeaux, she was married when only 17 to M. Cottin, a Parisian banker, who left her a widow at the age of 20. From an early period she had exhibited a love of literature; and to cheer the solitude of her affliction (for she had no children), she now betook herself to the composition of verses, and even ventured on a lengthy history. But it was in fiction she was destined to win unfading laurels. In 1798, appeared Claire d'Albe; in 1800, Malvina; in 1802, Amélie Mansfield; in 1805, Mathilde; and in 1806, Elisabeth, ou les Exilés de Sibérie, a work which has been translated into most European languages, and has always been extraordinarily popular with the young. Madame C. died 25th Aug., 1807. COTTLE: co., Tex. See page 893. COTTLE, JOSEPH, 1774-1853; a publisher and bookseller of Bristol, England, and especial friend of Southey and Coleridge whose first poems he put before the public. He wrote poems himself, and a volume of reminiscences of the two poets named. His brother, who made a poor translation into English of the Norse Edda, lives only in Byron's sarcastic couplet in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. COTTON, an important vegetable fiber, extensively cultivated in various parts of the globe within the 35th parallels of latitude. 1. Botanical and Commercial Classifications.-C. is the produce of all the species of the genus gossypium, which belongs to the natural order malvacea, and is thus allied to mallow, hollyhock, hibiscus, etc., the general resemblance to which is very apparent both in the foliage and flowers. The species are partly shrubs, partly herbaceous, and either perennial or annual; they are natives of the tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and America, but their cultivation has extended far into the temperate zones. They all have leaves with three to five lobes, which in a very young state are often sprinkled with black points, and rather large flowers, which are mostly yellow, but sometimes in whole or in part purple; the flowers very soon fall off; they grow singly from the axils of the leaves, and are surrounded at the base by three large, heart-shaped, cut or toothed, involucral leaves or bracts, partially growing together as one. The fruit is a 3 to 5-celled capsule, springing open when ripe by 3 to 5 valves, and containing numerous seeds enveloped in C., which is generally white, but sometimes yellow, and issues elastically from the capsule after it has burst open. Some of the other kinds have the flowers larger in proportion, and the leaves divided into more numerous and much deeper and narrower lobes, but the general appearance of all is very similar. Difference of opinion exists among botanists as to the number of distinct species, and there are very many varieties in cultivation, the number of which, through climatic influences and other causes, is continually increasing; but there are certain leading peculiarities on account of which some botanists and practical farmers reduce all, at least of the cultivated kinds, to four primary species-viz., 1. Gossypium Barbadense; 2. G. herbaceum or Indicum; 3. G. Peruvianum; and 4. G. arboreum. The produce of the first species is the most valuable. The beautiful long-stapled silky wool known as " sea island" is a variety, and is grown exclusively upon the islands and a portion of the mainland of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida; the saline ingredients of the soil and atmosphere being indispens able elements of the growth. The plant bears a yellow flower, and the seeds are small, black, and quite smooth, and the wool is easily separated therefrom; but when sown far inland, away from the saline influences of the coast, the seeds increase in size, and become covered with innumerable short hairs. A large percentage of the crops raised in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, etc., are also varieties of this species, though, owing to climatic influences, the wool is shorter in staple, and less easily separated from the seeds than sea island. The commercial value of the latter kind varies from 18. to 38. per lb., rare specimens sometimes realizing 5s, or 68. per lb. The better descriptions of Egyptian C. belong to G. Barbadense, and bring 18. to 28. 6d. per lb. in the Liverpool market. The short-staple varieties, known as New Orleans, Mobile, etc., sell at from 5d. to 10d., extra qualities sometimes bringing 18. per lb. G. herbaceum is found in India, China, Egypt, etc. The principal commercial varieties are those known as Surat, Madras, and short-stapled Egyptian. It is a small shrubby plant, bears a yellow flower, the seeds are covered with short grayish down, and the staple produced, though not long, is very fine. Its price varies from 34d. to 9d. per lb. A variety is cultivated in the United States, and the C. known as nankeen is thought to belong to this species. G. herbaceum can be profitably cultivated in colder countries than any other species of C. plant. The third species is a native of South America, and the green seed" C. of the United States appears to be a variety. The stem reaches 10 to 15 ft. in height, the flowers are yellow, and the capsules contain 8 or 10 black seeds firmly attached together in a cone-like mass. The wool is long and strong-stapled, and in value stands next in order to sea island and long-stapled Egyptian. Maranham, Bahia, and Maceio are varieties which sell in Liverpool at from 8d. to 18. 2d. per lb. G. arboreum is found in India, China, etc., and, as its name imports, is a large tree-like plant. It bears a red flower, and produces a fine yellowish-white wool. Varieties of it have been long cultivated in the United States, and with the requisite soil and climate, are said to produce a wool somewhat resembling sea island. 2. Cultivation. The plant is a very delicate organism, and requires a peculiar soil and climate for its due development. The method of cultivation is much the same in the various countries where the fiber is grown; but the most perfect system is that which obtains in the United States of America. Although the plant is not, strictly speaking, Cotton. an annual, it is found more profitable to destroy the shrub, after the crop is gathered, and sow new seed every year. The preparation of the land takes place during the winter months. After the ground has been thoroughly plowed, and as soon as all symptoms of frost have disappeared, the soil is laid off into rows varying in width from 3 to 4 ft., according to the situation and quality of the soil. The seed is then sown along the center of the beds in a straight furrow made with a small plow or opener; but in some plantations the seed is sown in holes from 12 to 18 in. apart. The sowing commences in Mar., and generally continues through April; but sometimes, owing to late spring frosts, the planting is prolonged to May. The young shoot appears above-ground in about eight to ten days, and is then and subsequently weeded and thinned. Blooming takes place about the beginning of June-in early seasons, towards the latter end of May; the average date is about June 5. As a general rule, C. is a dry-weather plant. For plowing, the planter requires just sufficient rain to give the soil a moist and spongy texture. During the early stages of its growth, the crop flourishes best with a warm steamy sort of weather, with an occasional shower until blooming; too much rain being productive of weeds and wood at the expense of wool, whilst a severe drought produces a stunted plant, forced into too early maturity, and resulting in a small and light-stapled crop. A great deal, however, depends upon the position of the plantation; lands situated in hilly or upland districts obviously requiring more moisture than those lying in the plains and river-bottoms. From the date of blooming to the close of the picking season, warm dry weather is essential. Picking generally commences in Aug., occasionally in July, and continues until the occurrence of frost-about the end of Oct. or beginning of Nov.-puts a stop to the further growth of the plant. All the available hands of the plantation, young and old, are called into full employment during the harvest. The C. is gathered into baskets or bags suspended from the shoulders of the pickers, and when the crop has been secured, it is spread out and dried, and then separated from the seeds. The latter process was formerly performed by hand-a tedious operation, by which one hand could clean only a pound or so a day; but since the invention of the saw-gin, by Eli Whitney in 1793, the process of cleaning has been both rapid and effectual. This machine is composed of a hopper, having one side formed of strong parallel wires placed so close together as to exclude the passage of the seeds from within. The wool is dragged through the apertures by means of circular-saws attached to a large roller, and made to revolve between the wires, the seeds sinking to the bottom of the hopper. This process is adopted only in cleaning the short-stapled varieties of American C., the seeds of which adhere so firmly to the wool as to require a considerable amount of force to separate them. The Sea island variety is cleaned by being passed through two small rollers, which revolve in opposite directions, and easily throw off the hard smooth seeds. In India, though the saw and other machine-gins have been introduced in some districts, the wool is mostly cleaned by means of the primitive roller. Both descriptions of gins are used in Egypt and Brazil. The C. cleaned by the roller-gin, being uninjured thereby in staple, realizes the better price; but the deterioration caused by the saw-gin is compensated for by the greatly increased quantity cleaned; the latter turning out four or five times as much work as the former in an equal space of time, and thereby considerably reducing the expense of cleaning. The introduction of improved gins has very largely increased the production of C. in Egypt and Brazil during the past 14 years. 3. Production and Distribution.-The oldest C.-producing country is India, in which empire the plant has been grown and manufactured from time immemorial. Early mention is also made of it in the annals of Egypt, and it is believed to have a high antiquity in all parts of Africa. In the western world, it was found by Columbus, but was not so extensively cultivated as in the east; though during the past half century the culture there has outstripped, both in quantity and quality, the produce of the old world. Down to the commencement of the present century, the C. consumers of Europe were dependent upon the East and West Indies and the Levant for their raw material; but the inventive genius, superior farming, and greater energy of the planters of the southern states of America, had, prior to the civil war, almost secured the monopoly of supplying the manufactures of Great Britain and the European continent with this valuable fiber. The average import of American C. into Great Britain in 1858-60 reached 79 per cent of the entire arrivals; during the war the proportion fell to 3 per cent; but in 1871, it rose to 58 per cent. We will glance briefly at the history of the trade of the chief C. growing countries. United States.-The introduction of the plant is traced as far back as 1536, but the export trade did not commence until two and a half centuries later, the first shipment of importance being about 2,000 lbs. in 1770. In 1791, the amount reached 189,316 lbs. In 1793, the invention of the saw-gin gave a new stimulus to the trade, and in 1800, the exports reached 17,789,803 lbs.; from which period the shipments have continued to increase, being over 124,000,000 lbs. in 1821; 277,000,000 lbs. in 1831; 530,000,000 lbs. in 1841; 927,000,000 lbs. in 1851; and about 2,160,000,000 lbs. in 1860. Simultaneously with this rapid increase in production, there was, down to 1851, a gradual decline in the price of the wool, in consequence of improved processes of cultivation and cleaning, and the cheapening of carriage, etc.; the average price in Liverpool, in 1793, being 18. 6d. per lb.; in 1801, 28. 2d.; in 1811, 18. 2d.; in 1821, 94d.; in 1831, 6d.; in 1841, 61d.; in 1851, 54d. per lb.; from which period, however, the downward course was not only checked, but a movement in the opposite direction commenced, the average for 1856-61 being 7d. per lb.; the low prices current having caused consumption to overtake production. The outbreak of the civil war in 1861, and its continuance until 1865, completely revolutionized the industry of the south. The abolition of slavery added materially to the cost of producing C.; and this circumstance, along with the general rise which has taken place in values of all kinds during the past 12 or 15 years, has raised the price at which it will pay to sell American Č. in Liverpool to nearly 8d. per lb., against an average of 7d. per lb. for the five years ended with 1861. During the war, middling Orleans touched 28. 74d. per lb. In 1867 (Dec.), there was a decline to 78d.every one expecting a return of old prices; within a few months, there was a reaction to 18. 1d. Since then the tendency has been downwards: the average for 1875 being 7§d., against 8d. in 1874, and 9d. in 1873. BALES). |
