134 WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



inferior land it is essential that we have a quick-ripening (4-6 

 months) cotton, and for the rest the finer, whiter, and more abundant 

 the fibre the better.' 



Hybrids. Professor G. A. Gammie's observation ('Note' &c. 1903, p. 15), that 



by crossing varadi with American (Dharwar) cotton (G. hirsutum) he 

 had produced a plant closely resembling bani, is interesting. But if 

 his cross-bred cotton (shown I.e. in plate n.) fairly represents his 

 (v. x D.) cross, it could not in my opinion be placed as a 

 characteristic example of the bani cottons. This will, I think, be 

 apparent by comparing plate ix., ff . 1 & 2 (said at p. 6 to represent 

 normal bani) with the cross-bred cotton plate n. It is, however, im- 

 possible to form definite conclusions regarding artificially produced 

 crosses without having studied the living plants in question. I have 

 therefore accepted Professor Gammie's opinion that the hybrid 

 resembled bani, and in another passage have offered an explanation 

 of that circumstance (see pp. 111-2). 



Hybrids Several writers have, however, affirmed that the Chinese plant, 



said to Q. Banking, has never been successfully crossed with the Indian 



possible. G. obtusifolium. (See Middleton's opinion below under roji.) Major 



Trevor Clarke, as a matter of fact, actually did cross bani with Garo 



hill cotton. Moreover it is difficult to understand the reason for 



thinking a cross impossible, and indeed I am disposed to believe that 



many such crosses actually exist. (Cf. pp. Ill, 113, 336.) 



But before passing to consider the next variety I may add that 

 there is a sheet in the Kew Herbarium from British Guiana, col- 

 lected by Jenman (n. 5149), which is said to have been spontaneous. 

 The plant was probably introduced from India and, being not 

 appreciated, had been allowed to run wild, just as many American 

 cottons exist under similar conditions in India. It has, however, 

 preserved its distinctive characteristics in its ferine state, a fact with 

 mar.y others that confirms belief in the acceptance of bani as a 

 distinct variety. 



20. Var. Roji, Watt: G. VAUPELLII, Graham, Cat. PI. Bomb. 

 (1839), p. 15 ; Prof. T. H. Hiddleton, The Agri. Ledg., 1895, n. 

 8, p. 5 ; Diet. Econ. Prod. Ind. iv., 63. 



A perennial, bushy, yellow-flowered, cultivated cotton; young 

 parts green-coloured, stellately hairy, the mature structures sub- 

 glabrous ; leaves thick, leathery, rigid, usually with three glands 

 below and often with an extra pair of lobes within the lateral sinuses. 



