SECTION IV: KIDNEY: IN INDIA 315 



grows, but with diminished vigour. I have also seen specimens of 

 it from Mingin (Upper Chindwin) and from Minbu.' In another 

 part of his report, Mr. Burkill gives it the Burmese name themban-wa 

 (=ship cotton), and speaks of the seeds as being half covered with 

 fuzz ; he also makes other observations that suggest a possible 

 confusion with G. microcarpum. 



Perhaps the most recent discovery in India of a tree cotton with More 

 long staple occurs in a communication addressed to Sir W. T. Thisel- discovery. 

 ton-Dyer which was submitted to me for opinion. The sample that 

 accompanied the letter proved to be G. brasiliense, and in my reply 

 the following observation was made : It is an exotic in India, and 

 has remained a curiosity in gardens or become a naturalised weed 

 on roadsides, or even passed into the jungles adjacent to its former 

 experimental cultivation, purely and simply because, in spite of the 

 superior quality of the floss, its cultivation has proved less remunera- 

 tive than the indigenous stocks. 



From a long personal acquaintance with cotton cultivation 

 I can say that nowhere in India has kidney cotton seemed to 

 me to have given evidence of capacity to become a regular field 

 crop. The staple is long and of excellent quality, but the yield poor 

 and the perennial habit against it, since the plant has often to live 

 through seasons unsuited to its growth, and which thus retard its yield 

 during the favourable months. Its being a perennial is also a circum- 

 stance that conflicts with the agricultural conditions of a large Conflict 

 portion of the cotton area, since the essential rotation to preserve the Culture 8 ."' 

 fruitfulness of the soil is interfered with. There would, moreover, 

 seem to be a still further and perhaps even more powerful argument 

 in favour of annual quick-ripening cottons : namely, that they can be 

 grown and reaped before the appearance of dangerous pests such as 

 the boll-weevil. 



But the interest to India in its acclimatised stocks of this 

 plant may possibly in the future be found to lie in these being 

 employed to hybridise with imported superior stocks that it may 

 be desired to grow in India. In this connection therefore, the Acclima- 

 observations made in the chapter on Pollen-grains (p. 346) may be 



found of special interest, since these would tend to the belief that valuable. 

 even Sea Island cotton is but a hybrid stock derived from the 

 present species as one of its ancestors. If this be confirmed, then, the 

 acclimatised stocks of India may be found invaluable in breeding 

 experiments. 



