IXSTITCTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOR lUKJ-ll. 93 



The Manager of Messrs. Volkart's Spinning and Press- 

 ing Factory informed me that he was buying extensively 

 pure supplies of the very coarse Varadi {roseum) cotton 

 which he considers does really possess a staple. He says 

 that this cotton is mostly used in Germany, Austria and 

 Hungary and that Bengal's are used in Italy. Fraudulent 

 practices are obviously carried on by cultivators. Wet 

 and damaged cotton is packed into the centre of finer stuff 

 and much leaf and dirt is present. The dry, brown leaf 

 is not so objectionable because it can be blown away, but it 

 is difficult to free the cotton from the black leaf caused by 

 damp. 



Khandesh cotton seed bears a good reputation in the 

 European market, its refraction being only 6 per cent, 

 while that from Berar is 6^ to 7. 



The cultivators, as a rule, do not take away the seed 

 during the ginning season, but just before sowing time, 

 when they have made up their minds as to what they are 

 to grow, they take whatever they can get in the shape of 

 seed from the mounds in the compounds of the ginning 

 factories. A few of the more careful cultivators, how- 

 ever, especially those who farm on a large scale, bring their 

 seed cotton to the ginning factory, see it ginned in their 

 presence, and often sell it during the process to the highest 

 bidder. They take away there and then w^hat they require 

 for the next season's sowing. 



Cotton Eocf^riments at Sholapur. — I visited these In 

 January in company with Mr. Patil, the Divisional In- 

 spector of Agriculture. The first plots seen were at 

 Mohanmala on land owned by the late Rao Bahadur Warad. 

 These experiments were started last year with the object 

 of ascertaining the mixture existing in the cotton fields of 

 the Sholapur District and also the value of the component 

 parts of such mixtures. 



fSi"^ 



