SECTION II: VAR. ASSAMICA 109 



from these gardens. Gammie and others allude to an acclimatised Garo Hill Acclima- 

 stock being found in Nagpur (see B.E.P., n. 22,031). Accepting that history tised 

 as correct, the plant can hardly now be distinguished from var. rosea or even 8 * oc ^- 

 from the ordinary var. neglecta. The most striking eye-mark, however, for 

 the Garo plant proper is the softly hairy leaves, borne on exceptionally long 

 leaf-stalks, and with the lobes radiating forward. 



Nomenclature. The people of the Garo Hills produce a peculiar Garo 

 kind of blanket, formed by rows of the tufted wool of this plant being an 

 placed by hand across the fabric and bound in that position by the 

 weft forced home on each successive row of tufts. Whether that 

 peculiar textile suggested the selection that has resulted in the pro- 

 duction of the Garo Hill long-boll cotton it would, of course, be im- 

 possible to say. The floss, though abundant, is of little commercial value 

 except, perhaps, to mix with wool. When carried to other parts of India 

 (even to the plains of Assam) the plant throws off many of its charac- 

 teristic features, is rapidly crossed with other stocks, and soon becomes 

 what can best be described as a large form of var. neglecta or at most of 

 var. rosea. It is probable, however, that this is actually the plant 

 Todaro meant to indicate by his G. cernuum, but if so his description is 

 most unsatisfactory, and the plant cannot possibly be more than a 

 variety, if not rather a special race. It is certainly not a species. 

 There is thus nothing to justify the retention of the name G. cernuum, 

 hence my giving it the name assamica, to denote its original locality 

 of production. 



It may be only a coincidence, but Bohr (' Observ. sur la Cult. Long- 

 du Cot.,' 1807, pp. 45-46) describes a remarkable cotton under the cotton, 

 name ' Carthagena cotton with long boll.' This, he says, was the 

 largest tree of all the cottons known to him, and the bolls were 

 7 to 8 inches in length. The cotton was, however, not desired in 

 Europe, and so its cultivation was not attempted in Sainte-Croix. Of 

 course it is not likely to have been var. assamica ; but since a South 

 American cotton with a boll of the size mentioned has been referred 

 to by no subsequent writer, I have thought it desirable to furnish 

 here this brief reference to it. 



CULTIVATION 



Mr. H. Z. Darrah, in an interesting ' Note on Cotton in Assam ' Area, 

 (1887), affords much useful information regarding the cotton of 

 that province in general, and of the present form of cotton more 

 especially. He shows that in the plains districts of the Brahma- 

 putra and Surma valleys cotton was little grown, but that on the 



