PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 453 



aud hard or soft. Therefore, even in the provinces of Owari and 

 Mikawa, the seed of \\estern provinces lias been taken and cultivated, 

 and the natural, long and soft stapled wool eould be very rarely seen in 

 the markets. Yet in the provinces of Hitachi and Shiinatsuke, »&c., 

 where line (!otton goods are manufactured, the sort of cotton-plant 

 producing long, soft, and strong stapled wool has long been cultivated 

 after the old custom, but, unfortunately, as th6 interests for planters 

 were gradually decreased on account of the lowering price of cotton of 

 that sort, the custom of cultivating Avitli the seeds of western province 

 after the mode of cultivation in that part is increasing year by year. 



Cotton-plants have different names in different provinces, so that it is 

 difficult to distinguish them readily one from another, but it is believed 

 that there are but three sorts, the so-called Kinai, Kanto, and Aiuoko. 

 The Kanto produces long, soft, and strong stapled wool (i inch to § 

 inch in length), of glossy appearance, and contains o to 7 seeds in each 

 cell, the size of which is large with less wool; and 3.2507 ounces of the 

 seed cotton give .07521 ounce of ginned cotton. On the contrary, 

 Kinai has hard and short stapled wool (^ inch to i inch in length), of 

 larger diameter and rather destitute of glossiness, and contains 8 to 11 

 seeds in each cell, of smaller size and covered with more wool, and 

 3.2507 ounces of the seed cotton yield 1.23526 ounces to 1.40281 ounces 

 of ginned cottou. Ainoko is the result of a reciprocal acclinuitization, 

 viz, Kanto seeds (that is the seed of eiistern part) being grown in 

 Kinai district (middle i)art), and Kinai seeds in Kanto district, or Kinai 

 seeds in Kiushiu (southwestern pait), and Kiushiu seeds in Kinai; the 

 properties, qualities, and lengths of the stapled wool of the former are 

 intermediate between those of the two preceding, and those of the lat- 

 ter intergrade between those of the native cottons of Kiiiai and Kiushiu. 



The mode of cultivation aud manures are various according to both 

 the soils and the climates, and also to the customs of every district. 

 In Kinai district and the provinces of Owari, Mikawa, &c., cotton- 

 planters like to have the cotton-plants rather short and thin instead of 

 growing them tall and large, the rootlets spreading out fully, and in 

 Kanto and some other districts they like to have the trunks of the plants 

 grow tall and large, the i^rimary root descending deeply in the ground; 

 cultivators generally dislike the latter plan, and there is no doubt that 

 such plants by no means give valuable returns. Agreeably to these 

 views, it is thought that the fact that the cotton crop in Kanto could 

 not be equal to that in Kinai is to some extent due to the mode of cul- 

 tivation, which, in Kanto, has not attained great excellence; there is 

 also the difference of the seeds. 



Cottons to be presented ought to be collected for the purpose in cot- 

 ton-producing districts, but in order to avoid losing time those specimens 

 already collected from among the exhibits at the competitive exhibition 

 of cotton and sugar, held at Osaka in last year (1880), are sent; there- 

 fore, the glossiness of the cotton-wool may be rather defective in com- 

 parison with that of the new crop. 



