FIBRE CROPS 145 1 



inches apart in the rows, arranged on the square. Autumn is the best 

 time for sowing, but it can also be done in the spring. The quantity of 

 seed, needed is i ^/^ to 2 ^/^ lbs per acre, and it should be soaked in water 

 for 24 hours before sowing. 



The necessary cultivation consists of four weedings per annum : in 

 spring, May or June, August and winter. 



One or two cuttings are made in spring and one in autumn, the first 

 being made when the plants reach the age of 18 months. The first spring 

 cutting may produce as much as 48 tons of green forage per acre. The 

 second spring crop yields up to 8 tons per acre, and the autumn crop to 

 30 tons per acre. 



To obtain the maximum of forage the crop should be mown just 

 when it begins to come into flower, but as this procediure weakens the plant 

 it is better to cut a little earlier, level with the ground, care being taken 

 not to injure the collar of the plant. One labourer will cut and tie about 

 one acre in a day. 



The artichoke is not suitable for ensilage, but it makes good hay. 

 The forage is readily eaten by cows and bullocks, horses, mules, pigs and 

 goats. Milking cows fed exclusively with this forage do not show any 

 change in their conditions nor in the milk that they produce. 



The introduction of this forage plant into Majorca is recommended. 



1079 - Analysis of Cotton at the Chief Stages of its Development (Publications of the 



Experiment Station of the " Golodnaia Steppe ", Samarkand district). — Rogalskij 

 B. V. in JKj/pHajih Onumuou AipoHOAliu (Review of Agricultural [Experiments), 

 Vol. XVII., Book I, pp. 13-36. Pefrograd 1916. 

 In order to obtain preliminary data for a more exhaustive study, expe- 

 riments have been carried out on the variety " King " which belongs to 

 the Upland group {Gossypium hirsntum L.) and which seems to be well suited 

 to the region of the Golodnaia Steppe (i) a part of the Russian possessions 

 in Central Asia. The year 1913 was meteorologicallj' favourable to cotton, 

 and no damage was done by the harmful salts, especially chlorides and sul- 

 phates, which are present in remarkable quantities in the soil of this region. 

 The cotton was cultivated on irrigated soil, which was clayey in texture, 

 and not too impregnated with salts. 



(i) The " Golodnaia Steppe " is a vast, slightly undulating plain, with a hardy perceptible 

 slope ; it is traversed by the railway and, according to approximate calculations, it possesses 

 about 200 000 acres perfectly suitable for irrigation and the cultivation of cotton. See " Cul- 

 ture of Cotton in Russia" by Knize A. I., in « EjiveroAHHK'B FjiaBHaro ynpaBjienia 

 3eMjieycTpoiicTBa 11 SeMJiej^'fejiin no J^enapxaMenTy 3eM.ntvT,ijJiia n JI-fecnoMy 

 JlenapTaMeHTy 3a 1907 rOAt » (Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Forestry) S. Petersbourg, 1908, pp. 315-361. A description of the climatic conditions, soil 

 and vegetation of the Golodnaia Steppe is given in the Compte Rendu of the Experimental 

 Farm of the same name, for 1906, published by the Director, Buchaev, M. M., in <• TpyflW 

 XjionKOBaro KoMHTexa, tom-s I». (Publications of the Cotton Committee), edited by 

 the Department of Agriculture, St. Petersbourg, 1907, pp. 71-150. (Ed.) 



