PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 225 
time cannot be obtained for the accumulation of secondary deposits 
in the hairs of cotton seeds. Its absence, and perhaps the short- 
ness of the fibre also, may be due to the too rapid ripening of the 
pods, or is it owing to the poverty of the soil ? 
Some cottons present a considerable number of “specks,” or 
“ knots ;” these are found to consist of fibres in which the secondary 
deposit is absent, that is, of the thin flat fibres, consisting of the 
cell-wall only. 
The points to which the cotton spinner attaches the greatest 
importance is “LENGTH OF FIBRE” and “ABSENCE OF FO- 
REIGN MATTERS,” or in plain words “pirt;’ wniformity of 
length also is of course assumed; a reference to the prices also 
will show that they are in proportion to the length of staple. 
Thus on the 18th December, 1861, SeaIsland cotton, which mea- 
sured about one inch and two thirds, was worth 21d.,say 14 annas 
per lb., while saw-ginned Surat, which measured one inch and 
one fifth, say half an inch less, brought only 7}d., or a trifle more 
than one third of the price of the former, 
The point therefore to which the attention of the grower should 
be directed is, by improved cultivation to increase the length of 
staple, for we see that when the staple was one half longer, the 
price was three times greater or increased from a trifle under five 
annas, to fourteen annas per lb. It is true the fibre was also 
better in other ways, but it is likely that more careful cultivation 
would improve the cotton in every way. 
The cotton (No. 1) placed at the head of the list is that in 
greatest demand, and it will be seen thatits length does not much 
exceed the Broach cotton. Knowing what careful agriculture has 
effected in Europe, Europeans have a right to expect that the 
same cause should produce the same effect in India, and in addi- 
tion to one-half or 50 per cent. to the price should be an induce- 
ment sufficient to the cotton grower to endeavour to effect such 
an improvement as would give India that command of the cotton 
market which is now held by America. 
