INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PFSA, FOR 1909-10. 55 



toured with the Deputy Director of Agriculture, Bombay, 

 and discussed minutely with him the results of the trials 

 achieved so far by him. 



The following are the notes and reports drawn up by 

 me and they embody the information and impressions 

 gathered on the more important aspects of the cultivation 

 of cotton in the provinces : — 



Eastern Bengal and Assam. — In company with Mr. 

 Hector, I have completed an enquiry on the cultivation of 

 cotton in the Garo Hills and Chittagong Hill tracts. 



In a note on the subject of cotton by Mr. Hart based 

 on his visit to the Chittagong Ginning Mill, he states that 

 " one of the important problems to tackle is to find out (1) 

 whether that of the Garo Hills is a better jat than those 

 grown in the Chittagong Hill tracts or (2) whether the 

 difference is due simply to soil and climate." 



Probably all the hill cottons belong to Gossyfium neg- 

 lectum, var. Assarnica of Watt in his " Wild and Cultiva- 

 ted Cotton Plants of the World." The most perfect form 

 found in the Garo Hills is a very large boiled plant but a 

 smaller boiled variety is also found. This Garo Hill cotton 

 is pronounced to be the finest grown in the Hill tracts of 

 the Provinces and its staple often reaches from | to 1 inch 

 in length. It must be remembered, however, that it is not 

 used in commerce as cotton but as a substitute or adulterant 

 in wool manufacture and that any attempt to improve it 

 from the point of view of the cotton merchant would result 

 in a serious diminution of price as it would then at once 

 come into competition with the inferior grades of cotton 

 which are so largely produced in some parts of India more 

 accessible to the markets. 



In the Chittagong Hill tracts and probably in all the 

 other tracts also, a small boiled form is common. The 

 cotton is shorter in staple than that of the Garo Hills and 

 the percentage of cotton to seed is lower. We were 

 informed by the American Missionaries at Tura who take 

 special interest in cotton cultivation that they had been 



