SECTION II : KAHNAMI COTTONS 151 



I venture to think, racially. They are collectively the Dholleras of commerce. 

 In the E.E.P. Herbarium there are, among many others, the following 

 examples nn. 1738, 1765, 1805, 1821, &c. (See Plate No. 21, A Dr. Hove's 

 sample and also Plate No. 22, A 1-4.) 



(d) Kumpta : This is the characteristic cotton of the Southern Maratha Kumpta 

 country, known in trade as ' Coomptas.' As already explained, it is closely cottons, 

 allied to the deshi cottons of Broach, Surat, and Baroda. In fact it is 

 impossible to furnish any particulars by which the two plants could be 

 separated hi the herbarium, and yet they are geographical forms that 



have never been successfully interchanged, and the staple of the Gujarat 

 series is of a far higher quality than even the best of the Southern Maratha. 

 As a rule the Kumpta plant is much branched, and the leaves thicker 

 and more hairy than in any of the Gujarat forms. The bracteoles are 

 much smaller, and only dentate on the apex, and the corolla is in con- 

 sequence relatively larger, and pale yellow with very deep purple blotches. 

 The capsule is small, ovate, 3-celled, and the seeds possessed of a 

 yellowish-grey fuzz. But it has the advantage of maturing much earlier 

 than is the case with the corresponding Gujarat stock (see B.E.P. Herb., 

 n. 21,864). 



(e) Uppam : This may be described as the long-staple cotton of South Urroam 

 India, and found mainly in Tinnevelly and Coimbatore. As already explained, cottons, 

 it closely resembles the goghari of Gujarat, but is much inferior in the 

 percentage of floss to seed. The plants are vigorous, but less productive. 



Royle speaks of the uppam (or ukJcam) cotton as an annual which grows 

 on the black, or richest, and highest-assessed land. It is said to be called 

 uppam-parthi literally, sea-breeze cotton, from opening its bolls after the 

 setting in of the sea breeze. The following specimens may be enumerated : 

 ukJcam parthi chedi, nn. c.l, c.5, c.8, and c.15 ; and E.E.P., n. 21,870. 

 The staple, according to Royle, comes nearer to that of American Upland 

 than does any other Peninsular cotton. Now, if that statement was true 

 in 1851, it is certainly not true to-day, and the explanation must, therefore, 

 be that it has much degenerated since the tune when Dr. Wight supervised 

 the cotton cultivation of South India. But Eoyle's remark may have 

 special reference to hybrids of the uppam with Bourbon cotton or with 

 New Orleans, such as the black-seeded, presently to be described under 

 tellapatti. The only other possible alternative theory is that the cottons of 

 Gujarat have relatively vastly improved. 



(B) PROBABLE HYBRIDISED RACES. 



(f ) Kanvi : This would appear to be a recently introduced stock, and it Kanvi 

 often bears the name Khanpuri. It might be fairly well described as a cotton, 

 form of goghari ; it bears, at all events, the same relation to the deshi of 

 Kathiawar that goghari bears to the deshi of Broach. It is a low grade 

 cotton that yields very freely, hence its popularity. From the name 

 Khanpuri it has been supposed to have come from Eastern India, but 



if Cawnpore be meant, there is certainly no cotton in that district that 



could for a moment be supposed to have been the original stock of the 



Jcanvi (or Ttanbi). It is much more likely to be the deshi of Kathiawar, 



or even of Baroda, hybridised with var. neglecta (belati or varadi) ; but if Kathiawar 



so, it is a cross that has preserved the foliage and other structural peculi- 



