The precise time when the cotton manufacture was introduced into England is unknown; but probably it was not before the 17th century. Since then, what wonderful advances have been made! The cotton trade and manufacture have become a vast source of British industry, and of commerce between nations. It was some years ago calculated that the cotton manufacture yielded to Great Britain one thousand millions sterling. The names of Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton, Cartwright, and others, have become immortalised by their inventions for the improvement of the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Little more than half a century has passed since the British cotton manufactory was in its infancy--now it engages many millions of capital--keeps millions of work people employed; freights thousands of ships that are ever crossing and re-crossing the seas; and binds nations together in ties of mutual interest. The present yearly value of cotton manufactures in Great Britain is estimated at £34,000,000. About £6,044,000 of the above sum is distributed yearly among working people as wages. 1200. _What is silk?_ Silk, though not directly a vegetable product, is, nevertheless, indirectly derived from the vegetable creation, since it is a thread spun by the silk-worm from matter which the worm derives from the _mulberry leaf_. [Verse: "And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel."--I SAMUEL XXV.]