COTTON 75 



field crop, whence they have introduced the cultivation. 

 The adoption of cotton-growing by the Krepi tribes may 

 be due to similar reasons, although there appears to be 

 no evidence in support of this conjecture. 



In the last-named places the seed is sown in rows on 

 the tops of ridges, on the sides of which maize plants 

 may be also grown, but it is not uncommon to find 

 cotton plants growing alone. This is especially the case 

 on the northern limits of Ashanti. The large varieties 

 grown in these places are often left in the ground for a 

 second season and produce two crops, the last of which 

 is said to be inferior. No system of rotation has been 

 observed, although it is probable that the cotton is planted 

 during the early years of cultivation immediately following 

 the yam crop, which is the practice in some other West 

 African countries. 



Three distinct forms or varieties of cotton are culti- 

 vated in the forest region. The first variety is usually 

 referred to as " Green seed," and is the commonest 

 one grown. The lint is long-stapled and nearly white, 

 but experiments seem to show that this form does not 

 yield heavily. The second form is recognised by the 

 seed being dark brown or black, without any fuzz, except 

 a small brown tuft at the apex, which has a sharp spike. 

 The lint of this kind is creamy white, and the plant is 

 known as " Volta." The third form differs in having 

 the dark brown seeds adjoining one another, and 

 forming a conical mass, from which it is difficult to 

 separate the individual seeds. At the point of connection 

 each seed bears a small light brown patch. This form is 

 generally known to the officers at the British Cotton 

 Growing Association plantation as " Kidney." All these 

 varieties are cultivated throughout the forest country, 

 and extend to some distance beyond ; being replaced in 

 the drier parts of the Northern Territories by a small 

 plant with a white woolly seed. No cotton in a wild 

 state has been seen in the country, and isolated plants, 

 found springing up in open places surrounded by forest, 

 are generally easily traceable to formerly existing culti- 

 vation. 



The " Green seed," " Volta," and " Kidney " cottons, 

 which are grown in the Gold Coast, are different in habit 

 from the American and Indian plants, although in form 



