74 «EPOKT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



for the use of villagers. The cultivation of the cotton 

 crop generally in Chota Nagpur is on the decline, owning 

 to the restriction of the daha system of cultivation. This 

 system consists in burning thick layers of jungle on the 

 land selected for the cotton crop. The land is thus fertil- 

 ised with the ashes, and weeds are killed. If there 

 is not enough jungle on the selected site, jungle including 

 often valuable trees, is cut down at some distance and 

 carried there. The system is a wasteful one, and its 

 restriction cannot, therefore, be deprecated. Tree cottons 

 are grown in the district to a limited extent. The plants 

 give a fair return for three or four years after which their 

 yields diminish. 



During the same month a visit was paid to the Central 

 Provinces and Berar Exhibition, and full advantage taken 

 of such a favourable opportunity of studying samples of 

 cottons from all parts of the province. Side by side 

 with the experiments which are being conducted for the 

 improvement of the local jari and varadi by the selecting 

 out of a superior race known as malvensis, work of great 

 importance has been done in the introduction of hurhi 

 cotton. The staple has been favourably reported on, but 

 something further is required in the way of strength, and 

 it is hoped the provincial department will attain this 

 quality by selection. In the course of a conversation with 

 an enterprising gentleman who cultivates about 1,000 acres 

 of land near Yeotmal, it was learnt that hurhi cotton is 

 thoroughly at home in low lying ground where jari was 

 killed by excessive rain in the last season. There is thus 

 a chance for the introduction of hurhi into areas of 

 heavier rainfall, and Mr. Clouston has arranged to work 

 out this point. It should not be grown, however, on the 

 higher and drier lands which are exactly suitable foi- 

 jari. Mr. Hemingway, Director of Agriculture, stated 

 that a good deal of cotton wilt had been reported from the 

 Satpuras, but he himself thinks that it is not really wilt, 

 but damage caused by the heavy rainfall. He also stated 

 that hani requires a heavier rainfall than jari, that the 



