Cotton is the name given to the soft cellular hairs which encircle the seeds of plants of the genus Gossypium, natural order Malvaceae. The genus is indigenous to both the Old and the New World, and the plants are now cultivated all over the world within the limits of thirty degrees north and south of the equator. All the species are perennial shrubs, though in cultivation they are sometimes treated as if they were annuals. They have alternate stalked and lobed leaves, large yellow flowers, and a three or five celled capsule, which bursts open when ripe through the middle of the cell, liberating the numerous black seeds covered with the beautiful filamentous cotton.
The North American cotton is produced by Gossypium bartadense, and two well-marked varieties are cultivated, the long-staple cotton, which has a fine soft silky fibre, about five centimetres long, and the short-staple cotton, which has a fibre little over three centimetres long adhering closely to the seed. The long-staple variety known as Sea Island cotton holds the first place in the market. It is grown in some of the southern states of America, especially on islands bordering the coast.
The cotton grown in South America is obtained from Gossypium peruvianum, called also kidney cotton. The indigenous Indian species is Gossypium herbaceum, which yields a short-stapled cotton. It is grown throughout the Mediterranean region as well as in Asia.
The mode of cultivation is traditionally as follows: The seeds are sown in the spring in drills of about a metre in width, the plant appearing above ground in about eight days afterwards. The rows of young plants are then carefully weeded and hoed, a process which requires to be repeated at two or three subsequent periods. No hoeing takes place after the flowering has commenced, from which a period of seventy days generally elapses until the ripening of the seed. To prevent the lustre of the cotton wool from being tarnished, the pods must not remain ungathered longer than eight days after coming to maturity. The cotton wool is collected by picking with the fingers the flakes from the pods, and then spreading out to dry, an operation which requires to be thoroughly performed. The cotton now comes to be separated from the seeds, a process formerly effected by manual labour, but which since the late 19th century is generally accomplished by machinery. After being cleansed from the seeds, the cotton wool is formed into bales, and is now ready for delivery to the manufacturer.
Cotton has been cultivated in India and the adjacent islands from time immemorial. It was known in Egypt in the 6th century before the Christian era, but was then probably imported from India. It was not until a comparatively late period that the nations of the West became acquainted with this useful commodity, and even then it appears only to have been used as an article of the greatest luxury. The introduction of the cotton-shrub into Europe dates from the 9th century, and was first effected by the Spanish Moors, who planted it in the plains of Valencia. Cotton manufactories were shortly afterwards established at Cordova, Granada, and Seville; and by the 14th century the cotton stuffs manufactured in Granada had come to be regarded as superior in quality to those of Syria. About the 14th century cotton thread began to be imported into England.
In China the cotton-shrub was known at a very early period, but cotton does not appear to have been turned to any account as an article of manufacture until the 6th century of the Christian era, nor was it extensively used for that purpose until nearly the middle of the 14th century. In the New World the manufacture of cotton cloth appears to have been well understood by the Mexicans and Peruvians long before the advent of Europeans. It was planted by the English colonists of Virginia in 1621, but only as an experiment, and the amount produced was long very small. About 1780-1790 the British West Indies supplied Britain with most of its raw cotton, other sources being Asia Minor and the Levant, Brazil, and the East Indies. The United States then began to export cotton in large quantities, and soon outdistanced all other countries, though much cotton is also exported from India and Egypt. Research Cotton
The Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a dignified bird of the sub-family Falconinoe. The upper plumage is dark bluish grey with darker bands. The head is coloured black as are the moustaches descending from the gape. The lower plumage is white, the breast transversely barred with brown. The beak is blue and darker at the point. The cere is yellow as are the feet with black claws. The length is around 40 centimetres, the female being larger than the male.
Traditionally Peregrine falcons live in the countryside, but at the start of the 21st century they started moving into British cities, including London, where there was an abundance of food - their staplediet being pigeons supplemented by other birds and occasional small mammals, and even the occasional barnowl. Research Peregrine Falcon
Michael Baius (Michael De Bay) was an English Catholic theologian. He was born in 1513, at Hainaut and died in 1589. Educated at Louvain, he was made professor of theology there in 1563 or 1564, and chosen a member of the Council of Trent. Leaving the scholastic method, he founded systematic theology directly upon the Bible and the Christian fathers, of whom he particularly followed St Augustine. His doctrines of original sin and of salvation by grace led to his persecution as a heretic by the old Scotists, and the Jesuits, who succeeded in obtaining a Papal bull in 1567, condemning the doctrines imputed to him. Baius, however, remained in the possession of his dignities, was appointed in 1578 chancellor of Louvain University; and the King of Spain even conferred upon him the office of inquisitor-general in the Netherlands. He died in 1589. His Augustinian views descended to the Jansenists, while his doctrine of pure undivided love to God formed the staple of Quietism. Research Michael Baius
Pellagra (commonly known as Mal de la Rosa, Mal Rosso, Alpine Scurvy, Asturian Rose, or Psilosis Pigmentosa) is a non-contagious disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin B3 (nicotinic acid or niacin) in the diet, common among people where maize is the staple food, but also among poor peoples in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Pellagra is generally endemic and slowly evolves. It is characterised by burning or itching often followed by scaling of the skin, inflammation of the tongue and mouth, diarrhoea, and manic depression. In particular, patients exhibit a rash around the neck which resembles a rosary, from whence pellagra obtains its popular names. The symptoms usually reoccur each year in the same season, usually during the spring but sometimes autumn. The first authentic case of pellagra in Great Britain was reported in 1866, a second in 1906 and a third in 1909. In 1914 the first case in Canada was reported, and in 1920 an outbreak was reported in Nanking, China. During the Great War many Turkish troops and Armenian refugees developed the disease. Research Pellagra
A cotton gin is a machine for separating the fibres of raw or seedcotton from the seeds. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 by the American inventor Eli Whitney was one of the most important factors in the creation of the immense cotton industry in the USA; before that time the removal of seeds was a tedious and uneconomical manual process. A side effect of the invention of the cotton gin was a rise in the price of slaves in the USA and the end of hopes of emancipation for them at that time.
Whitney's gin, also called a saw gin, consisted of a cylinder to which a number of saw-like teeth were affixed. As the cylinder revolved, the teeth passed through the closely spaced ribs of a fixed comb. When cotton was fed into the gin, the teeth caught the cotton fibres and pulled them through the comb, leaving the seeds, which were too large to pass between the ribs, behind. This principle, with virtually no modifications, is still employed in modern automatic saw gins used to process the bulk of the American cotton crop. One disadvantage of the saw gin is that it tends to damage the fibre, particularly in the case of long-staple cottons. For ginning such cottons, which include the Egyptian, pima, and Sea Island varieties, the rollergin is used. In this gin the cotton is carried on the surface of a leather-covered roller that has a blade fixed parallel to the axis of the roller and nearly touching its surface. The cotton fibre passes under the blade on the roller, but the seeds cannot pass the blade and are forced out of the fibre. The rollergin is slow, so it is used only for premium grades of cotton. Research Cotton Gin
Pottage was a thick stew or soup, that formed the staplediet of the British peasantry during the Mediaeval period. Typical pottage comprised vegetables such as onions, garlic, parsnips, swede, cabbage, peas and beans together with apple, pearlbarley and fat boiled in water or sometimes a mixture of water and ale in a large cauldron hung over an open fire. It was not uncommon for less refined cooks to top up the pottage day after day by adding more ingredients and water, the old pottage becoming rancid and nasty from whence comes the expression 'taking pot luck', you may be served good pottage or old and bad pottage. Research Pottage
Sushi ('vinegared rice') is a stapleJapanese cuisine consisting of rice which has been cooked and flavoured with vinegar and served cold with various garnishes including vegetables, eggs or raw seafood. Sushi varies from chef to chef, and in Japan sushi restaurants abound, each individual in the character of the prepared cuisine. Research Sushi More information about Sushi
Afghanistan is a country in Asia. It has a total area of 647,500 km2 and a land area of 647,500 km2. The climate is extremely cold in the higher, and intensely hot in the lower regions, yet on the whole it is salubrious. The most common trees are pines, oaks, birch, and walnut. In the valleys fruits, in the greatest variety and abundance, grow wild. The principal crops are wheat, forming the traditional staple food of the people; barley,rice, and maize. Other traditional crops were tobacco, sugar-cane, and cotton, though since the 20th century opium has become a major crop.
Afghanistan consists chiefly of lofty, bare, uninhabited table-lands, sandy barren plains, ranges of snow-covered mountains, offsets of the Hindu Kush or the Himalayas, and deep ravines and valleys. Many of the last are well watered and very fertile, but about four-fifths of the whole surface is rocky, mountainous, and unproductive. The surface on the north-east is covered with lofty ranges belonging to the Hindu Kush, whose heights are often 18,000 and sometimes reach perhaps 25,000 feet. The whole north-eastern portion of the country has a general elevation of over 6000 feet; but towards the south-west, in which direction the principal mountain chains of the interior run, the general elevation declines to not more than 1600 feet. In the interior the mountains sometimes reach the height of 15,000 ft. G-reat part of the frontier towards India consists of the Suleiman range, 12,000 feet high. There are numerous practicable avenues of communication between Afghanistan and India, among the most extensively used being the famous Khyber Pass, by which the river Cabul enters the Punjab; the Gomul Pass, also leading to the Punjab; and the Bolan Pass on the south, through which the route passes to Sind.
Natural resources include opium, natural gas, crude oil, coal, copper, talc, barites, sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semi-precious stones. The inhabitants belong to different races, but the Afghans proper form the great mass of the people. They are allied in blood to the Persians, and are divided into a number of tribes, among which the Duranis and Ghiljis are the most important. The Afghans are bold, hardy, and warlike, fond of freedom and resolute in maintaining it, but of a restless, turbulenttemper, and much given to plunder. Tribal dissensions have constantly been in existence, and seldom or never do all the Afghans pay allegiance to the nominal ruler of their country .The religion is 74% SunniMuslim, 15% Shia Muslim and 11% other. The official language is Pashto spoken by half the population, with 35% speaking Afghan Persian (Dari), 11% Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen), 4% thirty minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) with widespread bilingualism.
In 1738 the country was conquered by the Persians under Nadir Shah. On his death in 1747 Ahmed Shah, one of his generals, obtained the sovereignty ofAfghanistan, and became the founder of a dynasty, which lasted. about eighty years. At the end of that time Dost Mohammed, the ruler of Kabul, had acquired a preponderating influence in the country. On account of his dealings with the Russians the British resolved to dethrone him and restore Shah Shuja, a former ruler.
In April, 1839, a British army under Sir John Keane entered Afghanistan, occupied Kabul, and placed Shah Shuja on the throne, a force of 8000 being left to support the new sovereign. Sir W Macnaghten remained as envoy at Kabul, with Sir Alexander Burnes as assistant envoy. The Afghans soon organized a widespread insurrection, which came to a head on November the 2nd,1841, when Burnes and a number of British officers, besides women and children, were murdered, Macnaghten being murdered not long after. The other British leaders now made a treaty with the Afghans, at whose head was Akbar, son of Dost Mohammed, agreeing to withdraw the forces from the country, while the Afghans were to furnish them with provisions and escort them on their way.
On the 6th of January, 1842 the British left Kabul and began their most disastrous retreat. The cold was intense, they had almost no food - for the treacherous Afghans did not fulfil their promises - and day after day they were assailed by bodies of the enemy. By the 13th of January 26,000 persons, including camp-followers, women and children, were killed. Some were kept as prisoners, but only one man, Dr. Brydon, reached Jelalabad, which, as well as Kandahar, was still held by British troops. In a few months General Pollock, with a fresh army from India, retook Kabul and soon finished the war.
Shah Shuja having been assassinated, Dost Mohammed again obtained the throne of Kabul, and acquired extensive power in Afghanistan. He joined with the Sikhs against the British, but latterly made an offensive and defensive alliance with the latter. He died in 1863, having nominated his son Shere Ali his successor. Shere Ali entered into friendly relations with the British, but in 1878, having repulsed a British envoy and refused to receive a British mission (a Russian mission being meantime at his court), war was declared against him, and the British troops entered Afghanistan. They met with comparatively little resistance ; the ameer fled to Turkestan, where he soon after died; and his son Yakoob Khan having succeeded him concluded a treaty with the British at Gandamak in May, 1879, in which a certain extension of the British frontier, the control by Britain of the foreign policy of Afghanistan, and the residence of a British envoy in Kabul, were the chief stipulations. Not long after this settlement the British resident at Kabul, Sir Louis P. Gavagnari, and the other members of the mission were treacherously attacked and slain by the Afghans, and troops had again to be sent into the country. Kabul was again occupied, and Kandahar and Ghazni were also relieved; while Yakoob Khan was sent to imprisonment in India.
In 1880 Abdur-Rahman, a grandson of Dost Mohammed, was recognized by Britain as ameer of the country. He was on friendly terms with the British during his reign, which ended with his death in 1901, his son Habibullah being his successor. Encroachments by the Russians on territory claimed by Afghanistan almost brought about a rupture between Britain and Russia in 1885, and led to the delimitation of the frontier of Afghanistan on the side next Russia,
In 1926 a royal kingdom was established in Afghanistan, this was overthrown in 1973 and a republic was declared. There followed a period of unrest until in 1979 a left-wing coup occurred. Civil war ensued and the Soviet Union invaded at the invitation of the government. The American government and its allies sponsored and armed a Islamic fundamentalist
opposition - the Mujaheddin - and in 1989 the Soviets withdrew and in in 1992 the Mujaheddin gained power, installing a very fundamentalist Islamic government known as the Taliban. The Taliban were then overthrown by an American-led invasion in 2002 following the Taliban's support for those responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in New York and a coalition of tribal warlords was put in power. Since then civil unrest has once again continued, as it always has in Afghanistan. Research Afghanistan
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