230 



KUMPTA COTTON AND ITS IMPROVEMENT 



This distribution of rainfall is showTi in Text-figure,! . In Dliarwar there 

 is substantial rain from May to October, and often some in April also, the 



Fig. 1. 



heaviest rain coming before sowing, and giving a thoroughly saturated seed bed 

 for sowmg the cotton in August. In Gadag the heaviest rain comes later — 

 in September— but the rainfall is, nevertheless, fairly well distributed durmg 

 the months from May to October. 



Temperatures in the " kiimpta " tract. The portion of the district I have 

 named the transition tract above is temperate ; the drier area to the east is 

 very hot during March, April and May. The variations in the maximum and 

 minimum temperatures from month to month are well shoA^-n in Text-figure 2. 

 The generally higher temperature of the eastern drier tract is very obvious, 

 and this is most marked in the months from May to August. From a cotton 

 growing point of view, however, the most striking feature is that the average 

 minimum temperature for the whole year in both cases is above 60°F. This 

 enables cotton to be growing through the cold weather, and, in fact, over the 

 whole of this tract the kiimpta cotton grows throughout the coldest part of the 

 year. The absolute minimum temperature during 20 years was 50 °F. 



