4 INDIAN COTTONS. 
No species cultivated in Sind at the present time resembles it im 
any particular. 
All Indian cottons can be hybridized freely by artificial 
means. Hybridization of American and Indian varieties has 
been invariably unsuccessful both in India and in America. 
A few more years of experiment and observation are neces- 
sary to prove absolutely that climate, soil and general environment 
are the factors which influence the tendency to variations in the 
cottons. If botanists and agriculturists will devote careful atten- 
tion to the cottons growing in the fields throughout their 
provinces, a confirmation or refutation of my theory will soon be 
arrived at. 
CHAPTER II. 
A PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION OF THE INDIAN COTTONS. 
Tue following classification is suggested after a close study 
(extending over seven years) of numerous varieties grown system- 
atically at the Poona Farm, supplemented by field observations in 
the cotton districts of Bombay and by information generously 
supplied by observers in other parts of India. This season the 
United States Department of Agriculture has supplied me with 
seeds of a long series of American forms, and I defer attempt- 
ing to compile a history of the nomenclature of the cottons 
until I have studied these in a living state. 
No method adopted in any of the numerous works extant 
on the Systematic Botany of the whole or parts of India has 
been found to meet the requirements of our present knowledge. 
Three years ago I worked at the subject in England and found 
but little enlightenment, as the material in the Herbaria is not 
only scanty but has never been critically examined. Parlatore’s 
work, entitled ‘“ Le Specie dei Cotoni descritte” and that of 
Todaro called ‘ Relazione Sulla Cultura dei Cotoni in Italia 
seguita da una Monagraphia de Genere Gossypium ” are the two 
principal works dealing with the botany of cotton. In default of 
