388 GENERAL REVIEW. 



forms being largely grown in British India. G. peruvianum, 

 or Kidney Cotton, is the type cultivated in South America. 

 All the species are perennial shrubs or herbaceous plants, but 

 in cultivation they are treated as annuals and raised from seed, 

 which germinates readily in a genial bottom-heat of 70 to 8o c . 

 The varieties of Cotton interbreed readily, and numerous kinds 

 were raised prior to 1871 by Col. Trevor Clarke, and these 

 plants were exhibited in a greenhouse especially erected for 

 them near the Exhibition of 1871. Col. Trevor Clarke has 

 very kindly given me the following remarks on cross-bred varie- 

 ties of Cotton : " In Gossypium, cross-bred plants were pro- 

 duced for purposes of improvement many years ago by Mr 

 Burns and others in India, and afterwards largely by myself. 

 In a series of experiments, extending over many years, I found 

 that the Eastern Cottons, G. herbaceum, with its innumerable 

 forms, and the nearly-related purple-blossomed G. arboreum, 

 would interbreed freely amongst each other. The occidental 

 or New World Cottons were also found to cross with each 

 other, and to produce fertile offspring ; but no union could be 

 effected by artificial impregnation between the Asiatic and 

 American plants. Note here, that the rough or hairy-leaved 

 type of American Cotton, represented by the New Orleans, 

 has been frequently cultivated experimentally in India, and in 

 one district successfully; various other members, too, of the 

 occidental type have also been brought thither for the same 

 purpose. These would all cross or interbreed with each 

 other. It is, however, an unfortunate circumstance that the 

 American New Orleans plant has become confused by planters 

 with the true Asiatic race, under the common name of G. 

 herbaceum, and that thus has sprung up the erroneous notion 

 that the two races were capable of hybridisation. The results 

 of artificial breeding amongst the Cottons may be summed up 

 briefly as follows : The Asiatic sorts were not improved in any 

 very marked degree. Some of the best of the multitudinous 

 local varieties were crossed with each other with the usual and 

 well-known result in such cases to wit, strengthened constitu- 

 tion, and greater development of parts ; but at present the most 

 improved examples will not bear comparison with the ordinary 

 American kinds. The cross between arboreum and herbaceum 

 was verified, and the produce had some marked good qualities. 

 The occidental or American family was also experimented 

 upon largely ; the numberless related forms were crossed and 

 recrossed with each other over a period of nearly twenty years, 

 and the produce sent out to be tested in the various Cotton- 

 growing countries. The physical results were in the highest 



