110 REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE 



The present high rate given by merchants in the auction 

 sale is for the following reasons : — 



(a) A large quantity of Broach and Cambodia kapas 



is gathered at one place by the efforts of the 

 Department; 



(b) The kapas is graded and there is a sort of 



guarantee for the declared percentage of lint; 



(c) There is some Departmental check over the culti- 



vators not to adulterate the cotton with other 

 inferior varieties. 



When the auction sale is stopped, merchants will not 

 have the facilities mentioned above and the mill-owners 

 will not be induced to buy the ka/pas at such high rates. 

 The only merchants on whom the Broach and Cambodia 

 cotton growers will have to depend, will be the local middle 

 men, who, when they understand that there would be no 

 auction sale, would offer as low a price as possible. 



The only solution to continue the cultivation of Broach 

 and Cambodia cottons in the absence of auction sales by the 

 Department would be either : — 



(a) that the cultivators should gin their own kapas 



and sell the lint, or 



(b) that some organized bodies like the Agricultural 



Associations or Co-operative Societies should 

 take up the work of arranging the auction 

 sales on the same lines as is done at present 

 by the Department. 



The former appears to me to be impracticable. As re- 

 gards the latter, it is a question whether the Agricultural 

 Association, Dharwar, can undertake this sort of work 

 independently. 



I understand that the holding of auction sales has 

 been financially successful to the Department. Besides, the 

 work brings the Departmental Officers in close touch with 

 numerous cultivators and cotton merchants. The expert 

 merchants and mill- agents consider that the Broach cotton 

 grown at Dharwar is as good a cotton as that grown at 



