twenty feet, growing along the coast of
the Indian Ocean, the cotton from which is used only for weaving cloth
for the turbans of Hindoo priests! And think of still another
exquisitely fine Indian cotton called Dacca cotton that is spun and
woven into fragile oriental muslins and Madras Long Cloth. It almost
makes your mouth water to grow cotton, doesn't it?"

"Well, at least you can go and see it grown, Uncle Frederick, and that
is more than we can do," piped Tim.

"True, sonny," nodded the captain. "But still you who stay at home and
do not see it grown have your share in its benefits. You wear, use, and
eat cotton products."

"How?" questioned the wondering Tim.

"Don't you have cotton cloth for clothing, bedding, and no end of other
comforts? Of course you do."

"But--eating cotton----" faltered Tim. "I don't do that."

"There are medicines made from the cotton root; cottonseed oil for
cooking and to use on salads, you may not be aware, comes from the
meaty kernel inside the cotton seed."

"I didn't know that," Tim answered.

"Oh, cotton has many by-products," returned his uncle. "The lint that
cannot be used for spinning is made into cotton wadding to pad quilts,
skirts, and coat linings; and cotton waste is excellent for cleaning
machinery. Ripe cotton fiber furnishes an almost pure cellulose, too."

"Cotton certainly seems to do its part in the world," Mary murmured
thoughtfully. "But I'm not sure," added she, with a mischievous little
smile, "that I know just what cellulose is."

CHAPTER IX

NORTH AND SOUTH

"Where do you and the _Charlotte_ go when you leave here, Frederick?"
his sister inquired as the family sat at breakfast the next morning.

"New Orleans, I suppose; we touch there for a cargo of cotton," was the
reply.

"Then you'll see the crop gathered, won't you, Uncle Frederick?" Mary
put in.

"Hardly that, lassie," replied her uncle kindly. "All the work will be
done before I arrive. However, I shall not mind that for I have seen
southern cotton fields in their prime before now."

"It grows everywhere in the South, doesn't it?" Mary ventured.

"One could hardly say that, my dear," Captain Dillingham responded with
a mild shake of his head. "On the contrary the cotton belt of the
United States is comparatively small considering the vast crops it
yields."

"Why don't they make it bigger and plant more cotton?" questioned Tim.

"Cotton, as I told you, sonny, has its own ide