[ 3*7 J 



(G. Barbadense) and (3) the herbaceous cotton (G. herbaceum). 

 The G. arboreum has its leaves more or less hairy, f seg- 

 mented or almost cut to the base, generally into 5 lobes. 

 Flowers purple, or purple with yellow centre, rarely white ; 

 seeds free from each other, covered with white cotton over- 

 lying a dense green or blackish down ; lint difficult to 

 separate from the seed. A supplementary tooth on one or 

 both sides of the middle lobe of the leaf forms a most pecu- 

 liar character which readily distinguishes it from G. herbace- 

 um. The G. arboreum is in flower during the greater part 

 of the year and it sometimes goes on bearing for 5 or 6 years. 

 It grows on every kind of soil, but it prefers high, light, 

 sandy soils. The lint is fine, silky, strong and fully an inch 

 long. The yield of lint in the first year is about 100 Ibs. per 

 acre, and in the 2nd and 3rd years 300 to 400 Ibs., after 

 which the yield falls off. The Burhi Kapas, Narma cotton, 

 Ram Kapas, and Deo Kapas, belong to this class. It is rarely 

 grown as a field-crop. In fact, there is prejudice in some 

 districts against its cultivation except by Brahmins. A stun- 

 ted variety of this, called G. neglectum is, however, exten- 

 sively cultivated as a field-crop. It has bright yellow flowers 

 and deeply palmate leaves which in shape are scarcely distin- 

 guishable from those of G. arboreum proper, except in that they 

 are more herbaceous and very much more hairy. The superior 

 white cottons of Eastern Bengal and of Northern India are 

 mostly G. neglectum. The long boiled Garo-hill cotton be- 

 longs to this class also. The Burhi cotton of Manbhum grown 

 on rich land in gardens and homesteads only, is G. arboreum 

 proper, while the Bhoga cotton which is the ordinary field 

 cotton of the district is G. neglectum. The former flowers 

 in November and yields a larger crop. The Bhoga sown in 

 June and July flowers earlier in October, attains only a 

 height of 2 or 4 ft. and yields a smaller outturn. The 

 Sheraj, Borailli and Tangori cottons of Dacca also belong 

 to G. arboreum. 



