178 WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



It is (M. Henry seems to believe) but a less highly cultivated state 

 of n'dargua and is met with here and there all over the colony, in 

 small patches and generally on inferior soils. The leaves are large, 

 glabrous, entire or deeply 3-5-lobed, and the seeds appear to be 

 naked. The crop matures about November. 



Perennial All three forms would seem to be mostly perennial and to yield 

 ' n8 ' crops for three to ten years, the stems being ratooned. In the first year 

 the crop is much less than in the second and third, but subsequently 

 it would seem to decline. M. Henry evidently thinks a perennial stock 

 a necessary adaptation to the soil and climate of the country, which 

 possesses relatively a low rainfall and has a soil that cannot be regarded 

 as retentive of moisture. There would appear to be three seasonal cul- 

 Seasons. tivations applicable to all three forms of cotton namely, (a) Winter 

 cultivation, where the cotton is sown in lines between millet, the 

 sowings being made in September. This is the most generally fol- 

 lowed system. Then there is (b) a Summer sowing on the banks 

 of the river, the seeds being sown from time to time as the land is 

 revealed by the falling of the river. This, though not stated by 

 M. Henry, obviously must be an annual crop, as the plants would 

 be killed by the rise of the river. Then, lastly, there is (c) Irrigated 

 cotton. This would seem, however, to be rather a projected new 

 direction than a system pursued to any material extent by the 

 Natives. The first experiments of this kind, our author adds, were 

 made by M. Th. Lecard, at the station of Eichard-Toll, in 1865. 

 Deter- It would, from the descriptions furnished, almost seem as if the 



mmations. co ^ on known as N'Dargua was G. punctatum ; Mokho, a plant allied 

 to G. obtusifolium; and N'Guine very possibly G. purpurascens. 

 These are only conjectural determinations, and cannot be accepted 

 until the plants have been compared with the types of the species in 

 question. I have, however, seen several specimens of G. obtusifolium 

 var. africana from Senegal, so that in suggesting that species for the 

 mokho cotton I am guided by evidence that all but justifies my doing 

 so and have little hesitation in concurring with M. Henry that the 

 n'dargua is G. punctatum. Specimens recently sent to me from 

 Senegal are unquestionably cultivated states of G. punctatum. 

 Gold Under the paragraph above, where specimens seen by me have 



C ast - been mentioned, it will be found I enumerate several recent 

 collections, such as those contributed by Mr. W. H. Johnson and by 

 Mr. G. C. Dudgeon, Superintendent of Agriculture for the British 

 West African Colonies and Protectorates, both sets having come from 



