76 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEAROJl 



Many of the Kathiawar States this year have gladly 

 undertaken to carry out experiments with superior cotton, 

 and there is hope that the former good varieties will as^ain 

 find a footing there. 



The experiments with Bourbon cotton at Nadiad farm 

 are very promising. Years ago partial success was ob- 

 tained in its cultivation in the Kaira district, and the 

 ultimate failure was perhaps due to the ignorance of the 

 requirements of a perennial cotton which needs careful 

 pruning among other details. Some of the samples of 

 cotton were valued very highly. Mr. Spence might have 

 obtained success further north at Deesa if he had tackled 

 the problem in the right way. Some samples of Bourbon 

 cotton from the Coimbatore district have been favourably 

 reported on by a Bombay merchant. 



Bourbon is probably the only foreign tree cotton worth 

 experimenting with in India, and an attempt is at present 

 being made to obtain sufficient information to enable 

 definite schemes to be formulated for its cultivation on a 

 larger scale. Its chief virtue at present seems to be that 

 it is not suitable for ordinary cotton soil tracts where 

 it would immediately suffer by admixture, but it would 

 thrive on red and sandy soils where cotton is not a usual 

 crop. In the Madras Presidency it is almost the sole 

 memorial of the long defunct cotton department, and it 

 has there suffered from long and unmerited neglect. 



In February, 1909, the Cotton Specialist attended the 

 Board of Agriculture meeting at Nagpur, and there dis- 

 cussed cotton matters with the officers interested. In 

 March he toured through the southern Mahratta country, 

 Madras Presidency and Bangalore where he advised the 

 recently appointed Economic Botanist as to the experi- 

 ments he should undertake. 



In the previous year three Bombay cottons were report- 

 ed as having given satisfactory results at Bellary. Broach, 

 however, shows a steady decline. The peculiar yellow 

 coloured cotton of the Madras Presidency is objected to 



