May i, i88g.] THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 7*9 
♦ — 
To the Editor. 
COTTON CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
[The following letter sent originally to a local paper, 
has been forwarded to us by Mr. Barber. — Ed. L. It.] 
Mutwal Lodge, 22nd March 1889. 
Dear Sib, — It gave me great pleasure to learn from 
your article of last morning, that the cotton I sent 
you, found in this garden, is probably different from 
the cotton found in many parts of the Island, as it 
only goes to establish, that, instead of one, we have 
two good varieties of proved excellence already 
flourishing in Ceylon, and both of which can be cultivated 
as perennials. The cotton, of the sample I sent you, 
has been declared to be Bourbon ; and I shall have 
occasion to refer to it fully later on. The plant is 
about 8 feet high, and about 9 feet across, where 
it is widest, and judging from its wood, it seems to 
have flourished here for some years. The soil is ordin- 
ary, but the crop is a heavy one. Since writing my 
last letter to you, I had the opportunity of utilising 
my leisure in Colombo, in making myself acquainted with 
the growth of the several varieties of cotton found 
in Colombo. I have been shewn by Mr. John Auwardt, 
in his garden at Slave Island, four different varieties 
growing close to each other under similar conditions: — 
the Tinuevelly, an insignificant slender plant ; the 
American, and the Egyptian of luxuriant habit, 
resembling each other very much, and finally, the 
robust Pernambuco or Peruvianum, (which is found 
in mauy parts of the Island,) asserting itself above 
all others in luxuriance and crop. 
This last with conglomerated seed caunot easily be 
mistaken for any of the other varieties. Its vigour 
and wealth of crop point to its suitability for general 
cultivation among the natives, in common with the 
Bourbon variety ; I have also visited the experimental 
garden in connection with the School of Agriculture, 
and I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Drieberg and 
his assistants, for another opportunity of ascertaining 
the comparative merits of the varieties grown in these 
grounds. I found the same varieties here ; and the 
Pernambuco was again found to flourish and crop best 
So that, while we are left to select for ourselves such 
varieties as we may find best suited to our elevations 
and different climates on estates, the native agricul- 
turists may find it, perhaps, safest to keep to the 
cotton already found in his garden. 
It may be convenient to refer your readers to some 
literature on cotton in this connection. The Bourbou 
and the Pernambuco or Peruvianum count among the 
six valuable varieties given by Wheeler in his " Cotton 
Cultivation in the Madras Presidency," Para. 21 : — " Six 
leading varieties of cotton, viz., Indian, Bourbon, New 
Orleans, Pernambuco, Egyptian and Sea Island." 
To keep to the two that we are dealing with at 
present. "Bourbon, so named from having been grown 
" in the Isle of Bourbon, where it is supposed to have 
" been introduced by the French from the West Indies. 
" It was first cultivated in India during the latter part of 
"the last century and commencememt of tbo present. 
" rnamluco or Brazilian, upon which some experi- 
" ments are still being made by private individuals. 
" This cotton is marked by the peculiarity of its seeds, 
" which adhere together in conglomerations." This 
simplifies identification for this variety, although with 
cotton generally it is not so easy a matter. Isaac Watts, 
Secretary to the Cotton Supply Association, in his 
paper to the British Manufacturing Industries, declares 
that " the Botany aud plant history of cotton has ever 
been a perplexing and difficult question. The proper 
classification though it has received much careful 
attention, and been made the subject of frequent 
discussions, has not yet by any means been authorit- 
atively settled." 
"The real points of difference are so slight that the 
systematic botanist has scarcely ground to go upon 
in the determination of species and affinities." 
Baron Von Mueller, however, in his «• Select Extra- 
Tropical Plants" describes these varieties as follows :— 
92 
"Gossypium, religiosum, Linue. (G. peruvianum, 
Oavan.), Tropical South America, Kidney Cotton. 
Peruviau or Brazilian Cotton. Leaves long-lobed, 
Petals yellow. Seeds black connected. The cotton is 
of a very long staple, white somewhat silky, and 
easily seceding from the seeds. A tawny variety occurs. 
This is the tallest of all cotton bushes, and is probably 
this species which occurs in the valleys of the Andes 
as a small tree bearing its cotton, while frosts whiten 
the ground around." 
"Gossypium Barbadense, Linne, West India, Sea 
Island Cotton. Leaves long-lobed. Petals yellow. Seeds 
disconnected, black, after the removal of the cotton. 
Fibre naked. The cotton of this species is very long, 
easily separable and of a silky lustre. This species 
requires low-lying coast tracts for attaining to per- 
fection. Perennial, and yielding like the rest a crop 
in the first season. Cultivated largely in the Southern 
States of N. America, also in South Europe, North 
Africa, Queensland and various other countries. M. 
Delchevalerie has drawn attention to a new and almost 
branchless plant of tall size and exceedingly prolific in 
bearing, raised in Egypt, called Bamia cotton, which 
Sir Joseph Hooker regards as a variety of G. Barbadense. 
The Bamia cotton bush grows 8 to 10 feet high, ripens 
(at Galveston) fruit in four or five months, and produces 
2 5 500 lb. cotton and seed per acre. It is remarkable 
for its long simple branches, heavily fruited from top 
to bottom. Its cotton is pale yellow." 
The New Orleans Cotton (G. Sanguineum, Hassk.] 
is here classified under the head G. arboreum. We 
need not enter into further botanical details. It is 
sufficient for all practical purposes to know that 
cotton went to Bourbon from the West Indies, and that 
we have what is ca'led "Bourbon" in Ceylon flour- 
ishing luxuriantly and yielding a beautiful cotton. 
But it may be of importance as regards crop to 
notice that Baron Von Mueller, who was interested iu 
Australia, speaks of as many as 700 pods from a single 
plant at one time; 12 to 20 capsules yielding an ounce of 
Mercantile Cotton. "Intense heat," he further 
observes, " under which even maize will suffer, does 
not injuriously affect cotton." "Dry years produce 
the best returns, yet aqueous vapour in the air is 
necessary for the best yield." "Porous soils, resting on 
limestones and metamorphic rocks are eminently 
adapted for cotton culture." He also tells us the 
statistical fact, that the area under cultivation in the 
Southern States of North America came to 7 million 
acres before the civil war, cultivated by lh million 
negroes. 
India had 14 million acres at the date of the publi- 
cation of this edition of his work, 1880. 
To return to our inquiries regarding the 
Bourbon Cotton, it appears to have owed its intro- 
duction into Southern India to Dr. Ander- 
son, and its subsequent reputation in the 
Liverpool market to Mr. Hughes, a planter in Tinnevelly, 
(Boyle's Memoirs Pari. Returns 1847) Wheeler. Accord- 
ing to the eminent botanist, Dr. Wight, who in 1842 
succeeded Capt. Hughes as Superintendent of the 
American planters in India, and who for eleven years 
watched the cotton plant through the experimental 
stages, says, speaking of the comparative merits of 
the varieties, " The Indian cotton plant is of slower 
growth than the American, and takes deeper root. 
The American root penetrating so deeply into the 
soil, thrives best on the lowlying portions of the 
Redland towards which the moisture of the upper ones 
is drawn ; and again, it thrives well in alluvial soils, 
which from their position are naturally laden with 
moisture." 
The Bourbon again, takes very deep root and bears tht 
climate even better than the Indian plant! " Dr. Wight 
treated the cotton plant as an annual, that is, he had 
annually rooted out the old plants of the preceding 
year, then resown the grouud. He found, however, 
t hat the Bmrbon variety was constantly treated as a 
biennial in India, as was also the Sea Island in Egypt. 
Accordingly, he proposed to try the experiment with 
New Orleans cotton, of pruning the plants nearly 
down to the grouud, aud leaving the roots to yield 
ac rop of fresh wood for the 2nd year. By this 
