864 BR. EDWARD SCHUNCK ON THE 



Travels*, makes the following statement regarding the 

 cotton-plant of China : — " The Chinese or Nanking cotton- 

 plant is the Gossypium herbaceum of botanists, and the 

 * Mie wha ' of the northern Chinese. It is a branching 

 annual, growing from 1-3 or 4 feet in height, according 

 to the richness of the soil, and flowering from August to 

 October The yellow cotton, from which the beau- 

 tiful Nanking cloth is manufactured, is called f Tze mie 

 wha ' by the Chinese, and differs but slightly in its struc- 

 ture and general appearance from the kind just noticed. 

 I have often compared them in the cotton-fields where 

 they were growing ; and although the yellow variety has a 

 more stunted habit than the other, it has no characters 

 which constitute a distinct species. It is merely an acci- 

 dental variety ; and although its seeds may generally pro- 

 duce the same kind, they doubtless frequently yield the 

 white variety, and vice versa. Hence specimens of the 

 yellow cotton are frequently found growing amongst the 

 white in the immediate vicinity of Shanghai ; and, again, a 

 few miles northward, in the fields near the city of Poushan, 

 on the banks of the Yang-tze-Kiang, where the yellow 

 cotton abounds, I have often gathered specimens of the 

 white variety." The opinion here expressed is also that of 

 Parlatoref, who affirms without hesitation that the plant 

 bearing red or reddish cotton is merely a variety either of 

 G. arboreum or G. hirsutum. 



Mr. Thomas Clegg, of Manchester, whose knowledge of 

 the properties, commercial value, and places of growth of 

 the various kinds of cotton is probably unrivalled, has 

 kindly communicated to me his views on this subject. 

 Mr. Clegg says : — " I found Nankin cotton abundantly at 

 Malta, many parts of Tunis, and in great quantities on 

 the west coast of Africa. Dr. Livingstone has sent me 



* Two Visits to the Tea-countries of China, vol. i. p. 199. 

 t Le Specie dei Cotoni. Firenze : 1866. 



