I 



12 OKIGIN OF THE HINDI COTTON. 



Todaro about 1866 with a statement that it had been introduced from Ceylon 



about forty years before. i 



Historical accounts collected by Balls indicate that the field culture of long- \ 



staple cotton in Egypt was begun by Mohammed Ali in 1821 at the instance of 

 Jumel, a French engineer. The superior type adopted by Jurael was not a new 

 introduction, but a perennial " tree " cotton that was being planted as an orna- 

 mental in gardens at Cairo, and supposed to come from India. Several direct 

 introductions of Sea Island aud Brazilian cotton appear to have been made 

 subsequently, but without displacing the variety that had been popularized by 

 Jumel. Balls is inclined to ascribe the brownish color of the Egyptian cotton 

 to these Brazilian introductions, but Fletcher believes that Jumel's cotton was 

 brown, like some of the Brazilian cottons. 



If the Egyptian cotton came by way of India the name Hindi that is now 

 given to inferior plants may be only an echo of the original introduction of the 

 Egyptian cotton itself. Any cotton brought from India might be called Hindi at 

 first, and this name would serve in later years for the residual stock, after 

 local varieties with special names began to be distinguished. Balls shows that 

 there were numerous varieties of Egyptian cotton with distinctive names before 

 the Mit Afifi type was introduced in 1882. After the use of the improved types 

 became general the old name might still be applied to inferior variations or 

 even to accidental hybrids. The origin of the name appears to have no bearing 

 in this case upon the origin of the plant. Local varieties of cotton might have 

 been taken to India from any part of tropical America, though more likely to 

 have come from Brazil, where the Portuguese ships were accustomed to stop 

 on their way around the Cape of Good Hope. 

 [Cir. 42] 



o 



