14 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



(a) Selection and Distribution op Seed. — The distri- 

 bution of seed of selected pickings from cultivators' fields, 

 has been in progress for more than four years in several 

 provinces, but without any marked result. This is hardly 

 surprising, for such selection, v^hile no doubt supplying 

 sound seed, is, properly speaking, no selection at all, since 

 the fields ordinarily contain many varieties mixed together. 

 It is by separating types and continued plant-to-plant se- 

 lection that real improvement can be effected. This line of 

 v^ork is now being followed on Government experimental 

 stations with very encouraging results. On the Surat 

 farm, the different types found mixed in Khandesh cotton 

 have been isolated and have been sown separately to deter- 

 mine the comparative value of each. Similar experiments 

 are in progress in Madras. At Akola in the Central Prov- 

 inces promising work is in progress in the separate cultiva- 

 tion of the four distinct varieties of cotton which are now 

 grown mixed by the ryots under the names jari and kati 

 'cllayati. Of these the malvensis seems to be a distinctly 

 superior variety, and special attention is being directed 

 towards selection from it. 



Eight cotton seed farms were worked by private 

 agencies in the Central Provinces in 1908 under the 

 guarantee of the provincial department against loss. Such 

 farms have been in existence for the last four years. They 

 grow the ordinary jari and hani varieties of cotton, but are 

 situated in districts which have special reputation for the 

 high quality of their cotton. The seed of first and second 

 pickings is purchased by the provincial department at more 

 than market rates for distribution. In course of time 

 when the selection now going on at the experimental sta- 

 tions has borne fruit, these farms will become useful agen- 

 cies for the distribution of improved strains of seed. The 

 ultimate object is to establish a number of such farms in- 

 dependent of the department, but receiving, when required, 

 assistance in the provision oi seed, trained staff or advice. 

 In the Punjab, Bengal and United Provinces, selection of 

 cotton seed is in progress. 



