Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/146

 cotton, growing on the same price of ground, barely weighed 25, and large pods of Bourbon under 50 grains. The proportion of wool to seed in the American was about 30 per cent., in the others from 20 to 25 — to which may be added, as a further recommendation, that the former produced ripe pods in less than three months from the time of sowing !

The most advantageous time for sowing this kind is, I believe, towards the end of the rains in December, or with the first of those in April and May, when they happen to fall freely. Should the following dry season be protracted, of course watering would greatly augment the crop. My Egyptian (Uplands) cotton was not sown until late in the season, it grew well and produced a very abundant crop, the pods being by far the largest I had seen, but. nearly the whole was lost owing to the setting in of the heavy October rains before they were quite ripe. A second, and abundant, but in all other respects much inferior crop was subsequently produced, the bushes being apparently much injured by the strong blighting north winds of January and February, from which they never recovered. I have since cut them down nearly to the ground and manured them, in the expectation of restoring them to vigour, but owing to the hot dry weather, and artificial watering being purposely withheld, hitherto with but partial success, a few only of the bushes having grown strongly, the others continue puny ; those however that have shot vigorously promise a very abundant crop, the seed from which will of course be subjected to farther trials.

The Gossypium acuminatum as observed above seems to be very extensively distributed since it is brought to India under the- various names of Pernambuco, Peruvian, and Bahea cotton and is spoken of in the Agri-Horticultural Society's transactions under the name of Ava cotton, and lastly is by Dr. Roxburgh, " said to be a native of the mountains to the north and westward of Bengal," but he adds " I do not find this species is ever cultivated." From this last remark we may infer it is not a native of India, but has accidentally found its way here, and up to the time that Roxburgh wrote, had not become sufficiently known, for its value to be justly appreciated. However as Roxburgh's information regarding its native country may be correct, and as his name is expressive of a Botanical character rather than of a native country to which the species is not limited, I have preferred adopting it. This is a very strong growing plant, and as it bears apparently without injury the high temperature of this coast, it is probable, it merits, and will receive, more attention than has hitherto been extended to it. In the light sandy soils of the coast it seems to thrive remarkably well and is very productive.

Respecting the indigenous species, ( G. herbaceum ) it is unnecessary to dilate, that one being already so well known in India, and indeed over all the warmer portions of the old world from the south of Europe, the northern limit of its cultivation, through the whole of the torrid' zone, and as being the species first and best known to mankind generally.

In this as in most very natural orders considerable difficulty is experienced in finding good generic characters, by which to distinguish groups of species which evidently ought to be kept distinct from each other, but the difficulty of discriminating among the species and varieties is often much greater, and has been productive of the usual result, that of causing an excessive multiplication of species, by inducing Botanists, working with imperfect materials, in numerous instances, to raise mere varieties to the rank of species. Gossypium affords a striking example of this fact in a cultivated genus : those of Sida and Abutilon are scarcely less remarkable among the uncultivated ones. Some species of each are common to the tropical regions of both the old and new world, and have in nearly all such cases received distinct names according as they happen to come from the one or other. Did the multiplication stop there, we would have little to complain of, as the geographical character would of itself, in the absence of botanical ones serve to distinguish them, and prevent any serious confusion, but unfortunately it does not ; our Abutilon indicum for example has in India, in my opinion, on most inadequate grounds, been split into two, viz. A. indicum and A. asiaticum, and has besides at different times received a variety of other names, such as Sida populifolia, Sida Eteromischos Sida Beloere, &c. but under how many more names it figures in tropical America and' her islands is not easy to discover.

In the discrimination of the genera of Malvacece, reference is principally had to the involucrum and fruit, and generally these, combined with habit, afford very permanent generic