INSTITUTE, PUSA, FOR 1918-19 121 



years, they were (1) 34-5, (2) 366 and (3) 35-6. The gin- 

 ning percentages of surat deshi for the same periods were 

 33-3 and 32 7. On this point alone it will be conceded 

 that the cultivator gains in quantity by using one of the 

 selections instead of his surat deshi. As regards the actual 

 improvement of a selection, it will be useful to record the 

 progress of 1027 ALF for the last 8 years. In 1912-13, 

 it was reported to have acquired the characters of surat 

 cotton with a slightly short staple; in 1913-14 it was con- 

 sidered almost equal to navsari in length and feel; in 

 1914-15 it was in no way inferior to navsari, long, silky, 

 iind strong; in 1915-16 the same remarks were made; in 

 1916-17 it was considered superior to navsari; in 1917-18 

 the same remark was made; and in 1918-19 it was 

 reported as good, long-stapled, silky cotton and almost 

 equal to Middling American. As regards production, the 

 cotton of 1027 ALF was valued at Rs. 206-10-0 per acre, 

 that of Selection IA at Rs. 192-12-0, that of Selection II 

 at Rs. 155, and of the local surat deshi at Rs. 136. 



For the current season the local department has distri- 

 buted, in separate groups of villages, sufficient seed of 

 Selection IA and Selection II to cover 5,000 acres, and 

 a special staff has been retained to supervise all operations 

 on these from sowing till the sale of their produce in the 

 market. 



For several years past the staple of broach deshi has 

 steadily gone from bad to worse on account of the introduc- 

 tion of an inferior type of cotton known as ghogari. An 

 experimental station was started in Broach to test the 

 characters of ghogari as a pure crop, as its origin, history 

 and nature were unknown. It has proved to be a prolific 

 cropper of a grade of cotton resembling bengals, with a 

 high ginning percentage. A number of forms were isolated 

 and tested and none were found to approach broach in any 

 way. The only alternative that suggests itself is that broach 

 itself should be rigorously tested to see whether some form 

 of it could not be developed to give a better profit than 

 ghogari. The experiments at Ajupura have shown that 



