STUDIES IN INDIAN COTTON. 



By H. M. LEAKE. 

 CONTENTS. 



FAQE 



Introduction 205 



The genus Goasypiura and the types used in the investigation . . 208 

 The experiments : 



(n) The colour of the corolla 212 



(6) The red colouring matter of the sap 214 



(c) The leaf factor 220 



(d) The type of branching and the length of the vegetative period 230 



(e) The leaf glands 238 



Correlation • . . . 241 



Literature 243 



Tables I— XXIX 244 



Introduction. 



Cotton forms one of the main crops of large tracts throughout 

 India and is consequently of considerable agricultural importance. 

 The fibre of the majority of the forms found under cultivation 

 is, however, very poor and in a few cases only of sufficient qualit}' 

 to find a market in England. The consumption is chiefly local and 

 an important industry has arisen with numerous mills the bulk of 

 whose out-turn is coarse yarn and cloth for which a considerable 

 demand exists. The problem of improvement in the quality of the 

 raw product is one which has exercised the minds of numerous in- 

 vestigators throughout India for nearly a century and was referred to 

 the author as the problem of most pressing importance when he entered 

 Government service in lOO-t. The experiments were commenced at 

 Saharanpore in 190.5 when a series of the Indian forms were first grown 

 and observed and they have been pursued without interruption first at 

 that place and later as part of the work carried on by the Research 

 Section of the United Provinces' Agricultural Department at the 



