When we consider that the quantity of cotton carried by the Transcaspian Railway since 1888 has more than quadrupled, and that in ten years the quantity shipped has been increased from quarter of a million pounds to over 72,000,000 pounds, we can quite appreciate the significance of the statement that before long Russia will be able to grow all her own cotton for the medium and lower numbers of yarns. =Cotton-growing in China, Corea and Japan.=--Japan, the land of the chrysanthemum, for many years now has been developing cotton-growing as well as cotton manufacturing. From evidence which the cold type of the Board of Trade gives, Japan bids fair to largely increase her trade with India to the disadvantage of the present suppliers. Cotton-growing has been practised for some centuries in Japan, but it was not until the seventeenth century that anything like progress could be reported. From that time to the present the growth has been gradually on the increase. Japan proper consists of the Islands of Niphon, Kiusiu, Shikoku, Yesso, and an immense number of smaller islands. Cotton cultivation is carried on mainly on the first three islands named, and in the following districts:--San Indo, Wakayama, Osaka, Kuantoebene, Hitachi and Suo. Taken as a whole, the cotton grown in the best areas is good, though much of an inferior kind is produced. The most southerly area of Wakayama in Niphon yields the best cotton of Japan. The length of the fibre generally is much less than the herbaceous kind. About 10 per cent. of the entire arable land is now under cultivation for cotton. As a rule, methods and processes are of a primitive kind. =Cotton-growing in Corea.=--Lying directly to the west of Japan, this vast peninsula has of late years been developing its cotton-growing. Five centuries ago cotton was imported from China, and one sees on every hand the influence of the Celestials. The cultivated plant is of the perennial type, though it is planted annually, the old plants being dug up and burned, the ash being used as a fertiliser. Statistics at present are not to be relied upon, though it is supposed that something like three quarters of a million acres are now under cultivation, giving on the average about 250 pounds of cotton lint. As in the case of Japan very little of this is exported, all of it or nearly so being spun and woven at home on the most primitive of machines. The chief districts engaged in growing cotton, nearly all of which lie in the southern portion of the peninsula, are Hwang-Hi, Kyeng-Sang, Chel-La, Kyeng Kwi, and Chung Cheog.