242 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



acuminate leaves. M. Delchevalerie has drawn attention to a new 

 plant, tall in size and exceedingly prolific in bearing, raised in Egypt, 

 called Bamia-cotton, which Sir Joseph Hooker regards as a variety 

 of Gr. Barbadense. This Bamia Cotton-bush grows 8 to 10 feet high, 

 ripens (at Galveston) fruit in four or five months, and produces 2,500 

 pounds of cotton and seed per acre. It is remarkable for its long 

 simple branches, heavily fruited from top to bottom. Its cotton is 

 pale-yellow. 



Gossypium herbaceum, Linne.* 



Persia, Scinde, Cabul and some other parts of tropical and sub- 

 tropical Asia. Much cultivated in the Mediterranean countries, also 

 in the United States of North- America and in Southern Japan. 

 Perennial. Leaves short-lobed. Petals yellow. Seeds discon- 

 nected, after removal of the cotton-fibre grey -velvety. Distinguished 

 and illustrated by Parlatore as a species, regarded by Seemann as a 

 variety of G-. arboreum. Staple longer than in the latter kind, white- 

 opaque, not easily separating. The wild type of this seems to be 

 G. Stocksii (Masters). Even this species, though supposed to be 

 herbaceous, will attain a height of 12 feet. The root of this and 

 some other congeners is a powerful emmenagogue. A variety with 

 tawny fibre furnishes the Nankin-cotton. Oil pressed from cotton- 

 seeds can be used for human food, but is inferior to good olive-oil 

 and lard in quality. It has most extensively come into use for various 

 processes of factories, so much so that in 1886 to a value of over 

 half a million sterling was exported from the United States [J. R. 

 Dodge]. Nearly half a million tons of seeds have lately been 

 crushed a year, a ton yielding about 35 gallons oil, and approximately 

 750 Ibs. oil-cake [Dr. Masters]. The richness of the latter in albu- 

 minous contents renders it of great importance for mixing with feed 

 poor in nitrogenous compounds, such as hay and ensilage [Prof. N. 

 T. Lupton]. Prof. Grulley calculated the harvest of cotton-seeds in 

 the United States during one of the later years at 3,000,000 tons. 



Gossypium hirsutum, Linn4.* 



Upland- or Short-staple Cotton. Tropical America, cultivated 

 most extensively in the United States, Southern Europe and many 

 other countries. Perennial. Seeds brownish-green, disconnected, 

 after the removal of the cotton-fibre greenish -velvety. Staple white, 

 almost of a silky lustre, not easily separable. A portion of the 

 Queensland-cotton is obtained from this species. It neither requires 

 the coast-tracts nor the highly attentive culture of Gr. Barbadense. 



Gossypium. religiosum, Linn6.* (G. Peruvianum, Cavanilles.) 



Tropical South-America, southward to Chili. Kidney-Cotton, 

 Peruvian or Brazilian Cotton. Leaves long-lobed. Petals yellow. 

 Seeds black, connected. The Cotton is of a very long staple, white, 

 somewhat silky, and easily separated from the seeds. A tawny 



