
4. Studies in the Experimental Breeding of the Indian 
Cottons,—an introductory note. 
By H. Martin Leake, M.A. 
The Genus Gossypium affords a good illustration of the con- 
fusion in terminology, which is apt to arise in the classification of 
widely cultivated plants. This confusion has been dealt with by 
names here used bear the interpretation that has been given to 
them by Gammie (3), 
The present gp orion refer to six of the species there 
(pp. 4—8) noted. They 
LLNS NaN ee TE ee NE AE gee 
— 
ict arboreum, Linn. Gossypium indicum, Lamk, 
herbaceum, Linn. - neglectum, Tod. 
= intermedium, Tod. ss cernuum, Tod. 
Of “ remaining three species, Cossypiwm i ac 
Roxb., Gossypium sanguineum, Hassk., have been un 
Spaces ubiedl for too short a period to be dealt with at the srr 
time; while Gossypium hirsutum, Mill., is definitely excluded. 
pium Stocksii, Mast., has recently been obtained from the 
neighbourhood of Karachi, but the generalisations that follow do 
F. not include that species, unless especial mention is made of the 
fac ns 
vei RE isa au, 

above six species—to which may be added Gossypium 
linc. Roxb., and, probably, also Gossypium  Stocksiz, 
Mast.,—form a definite group, the members of which, when crossed 
inter se, are completely fertile. In the same six species—-to which 
may be added G. obtusifoliwm Roxb.,—there occurs a range 0 
variation which, added to the readiness with which the flowers 
i may be handled and the duration of the flowering period, affords 
j most suitable material for a study in plant-breeding. 
Little has hitherto been recorded of the behaviour of the 
various species ey crossed with one another. The behaviour 
of the differentiating characters is unknown and it is, further, 
doubtful what may be considered a definite character. The 
4 problem, in its present stage, is purely theoretical—the isolation 
of those characters, which behave as units under artificial wchie 
The vegetative characters are, naturally, most readily determined, 
d the present note deals with these. The characters of the 
cotton—that portion of the plant on which its economic value 
depends—are not so readily isolated, and further observation and 
experiment will be necessary before these can be elucidated. 
The experiments,—A series of cotton plants have been under 
Pee Gn ee eee ee 
ohana 
a 
