838 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTON 7 S 



Strength 

 of hybrids. 



Indige- 

 nous x 

 exotic. 



Imperfect 



know- 



ledge. 



I should recommend your turning your attention principally to the 

 crossing of your native sorts with each other.' He then adds, a most 

 significant sentence, and one that shows the care with which he 

 prosecuted his investigations. ' According to my long experience, 

 the produce of any two varieties of fair qualities is more vigorous and 

 often generally better than either parent.' It is an accepted axiom 

 to-day that crossing almost invariably increases vigour, but was that 

 opinion at all general nearly forty years ago, when Major Trevor 

 Clarke was obtaining his knowledge and experience of the cotton 

 plants ? (see p. 153). 



But to conclude this notice of Clarke and his cotton experiments, 

 it may be said that he recommended that the pollen should be 

 applied over-night, ' i.e. just before the flower has expanded or has 

 been attacked by pollen-bearing insects.' Lastly he adds, ' I strongly 

 doubt the possibility of any cross between exotic and Indian sorts, 

 and fear you will be disappointed in this respect when your plants 

 come to perfection.' This, as it would seem, was an unfortunate 

 opinion, since there can be no doubt that such hybrids, while 

 sometimes difficult to produce, actually can be and have been formed. 

 The negative pronouncement by a recognised authority has doubtless 

 retarded many practical and useful experiments that might have been 

 conducted by other investigators. 



Ib seems, however, that Major Trevor Clarke, and others who 

 accepted his views on the crossing of Asiatic and American cottons, 

 proceeded very largely from imperfect knowledge of the genus 

 (see pp. 165 and 190). The G. herbaceum of most early writers, 

 regarding the southern of the United States of America, was doubtless 

 G. punctatum, var. Jamaica, but of the northern portions of the cotton 

 belt it was the true G. herbaceum introduced in the early decades of 

 the eighteenth century. In both localities hybridisation actually did 

 take place. A movement from the northern into the south and 

 south-western tracts was a consequence of the greater suitability of 

 the warmer regions. It was of necessity accompanied with an 

 abandonment of much of the early stock, so that while G. herbaceum 

 hybrids undoubtedly do exist in the United States they are less 

 abundant than those traceable to G. punctatiim. But the point of 

 importance here urged is that hybrids of G. herbaceum, a so-called 

 Old World form, were actually accomplished and the other element 

 of that stock was an undoubted New World species. So also in 

 South India there exist several undoubted hybrids such as the 



