_Lint_ is the name given to the cotton which remains when separated from
the seeds. Every other American type of cotton gives a greater
percentage of lint than the Sea Islands cotton, though it should be
stated that the price per pound is greater than any other kind of cotton
grown in the States. There are from six to nine seeds in each capsule
and the prevailing colour is black. A cotton grown in Egypt and known by
the name _Gallini_ is of the Sea Islands type and has been produced from
seed of the G. Barbadense. It should be added that the colour of the
flower is yellow and that in India this plant is known by the name of
Bourbon Cotton.
_Gossypium Herbaceum_.--As indicated by the name, this type is
herbaceous in character, especially the cultivated type. When Lamarck
classified this tree, he gave it the name Indicum because he considered
most of the Indian types and some of the Chinese belonged to this
particular species. India, too, is considered by Parlatore to have been
the original home of the herbaceous type, and he specially fixes the
Coromandel Coast as the first centre from which it sprang. There is much
conflict of opinion in localising the primitive habitat of this type,
and it is now thought that the present stock is probably the result of
hybridisation of several species more or less related to each other.
However, the areas in which this class of cotton grows are very numerous
and extensive, for we find it growing in India, China, Arabia, Persia,
Asia Minor, and Africa. A very characteristic feature of this plant is
that it quickly decays after podding, when cultivated as an annual.
The _Vine Cotton_ grown in Cuba belongs to the herbaceous type and is
remarkable for its large pods, which contain an abnormal number of
seeds. The so-called "Nankeen" cottons are said to be "Colour
variations" of the herbaceous Cotton plant. Many varieties of Egyptian
cottons are produced from this particular class, as well as the Surat
cotton of India.
A feature which distinguishes this type is that the seeds are covered
with two kinds of fibre, a long and short, the latter being very dense.
The process of taking the longer fibre from the seed must be very
carefully watched, as it becomes a troublesome matter to remove the
shorter fibre when once it has come away from the seed with the longer.
Hence great care should be taken in gathering this class of cotton.
Another point which should not be lost sight of is, that the herbaceous
type of Cotton plant readily hybridises with some other varieties and
the result is a strain of much better quality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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