IN this chapter it is contemplated to focus the practical results exhibited 



by the foregoing observations on the subject of cotton improvement. 



The cultivated cottons of the world have been referred to three great 



areas : (a) Asia, (b) Africa, and (c) America. But it has sometimes Classifica- 



been affirmed that the two first can be taken together and spoken of tion * 



as the fuzzy-seeded Asiatic, and the other as the naked-seeded 



American cottons. It has been abundantly shown, however, that this 



would be most inaccurate, since all the fuzzy-seeded species are certainly 



not Asiatic, no more than are all the naked-seeded American forms. A 



more accurate conception is that given above : namely, fuzzy-seeded 



cottons with united bracteoles (Section II. p. 77) and fuzzy-seeded 



cottons with free bracteoles (Section III. p. 163). The former is the 



Asiatic group and the latter the American fuzzy-seeded. Moreover 



the wild species have the seeds either with a firmly adhering coat 



of wool or a readily separable floss. And even the condition with both 



a fuzz and floss is not unknown in a few wild species, or at all 



events fully acclimatised or feral states. 



Mr. C. F. Cook (' U.S. Dept. Agri. Bull.' No. 88 of 1906) thinks Seed pro- 

 the very existence of the wool may be a consequence of the necessity 

 to protect the seed from the boll-weevil and other such enemies of the 

 plant. In most wild forms, such as G. Stocksii and G. Damdsonii, 

 the wool is so firmly and intricately crumpled up around the seed that 

 it might easily enough prove a veritable proboscis-proof protection. It 

 is in fact so compact as to cause such seeds to be sometimes described 

 as naked, the fuzz having escaped detection. But boll-weevils or Boll, 

 other boll-perforating insects are not known to be present, in at least weevi1 - 

 some of the localities of wild species of Gossypium, though a woolly 

 coating of some kind is universal. 



Of wild species the following among others possess a short velvety 

 coating around the seed : G. Harhnessii (a native of California) ; 

 G. Palmerii (of Mexico) ; G. Sturtii (of Australia), and G. tonientosum 



