Image: FIG. 4.--The Gossypium Barbadense.
_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.