G. L. KOTTUR 253 



Earliness. The cottons growing in the kimipia tract have, for herhaaum 

 cottoiis, a relatively short growing period. They are sown at the end of August 

 and their actual increase in size almost stops at the commencement of the cold 

 weather in November. They further receive a check in March when the 

 flowering suddenly ceases. Under these conditions the type best suited should 

 be quick in growing and early in flow^ering. The ante-monsoon showers falling 

 in the months of April and May often spoil the later pickings. If the cotton, 

 however, can be completely collected in two pickings the danger is greatly 

 minimized. 



In short, the plant which grows quickly, bears only fruiting branches, 

 flowers early, and finishes its yield at the most in two pickings, is the ideal 

 one for the hmnpta tract, and it should be our endeavour to select such a type 

 from the numerous strains found in the ordinary kumjJta cotton, which, while 

 possessing these characters, also gives cotton of staple and ginning percentage 

 at least as high, if not higher, than that of the mixture now grown. 

 VI. Selections from " kumpta " cotton. 



Having thus laid down {see previous chapter) the type of cotton plant 

 which is likely to give a large yield of cotton, the problem of improvement 

 might at fu'st sight appear comparatively easy. But in cotton it is very 

 often found that high-yielcling types are not the most profitable to grow owing 

 to their deficiencies in other dii'ections. In fact it has been supposed by 

 some that there is a natural antagonism between high yield, high-ginnmg 

 percentage, and long staple. Though our results among herhaceum cottons 

 do not entirely justify this position, yet the combination of these three quali- 

 ties in one strain of cotton plant is very rare. It is even rare to find high- 

 ginning percentage and long staple combined in the produce of one cotton 

 plant. High-ginning percentage is more frequently combined with high 

 yield in one and the same plant, and likewise long staple is not uncommonly 

 found in a strain whose yield is high. If high-ginning percentage is obtained 

 at the cost of staple, the result is not at all desirable at least among humpa 

 cottons, for this tract is capable of yielding cotton of good staple and enjoys 

 peculiar advantages for growing it. A type which gives a high yield and 

 also has a long staple has, therefore, a better chance of success than any other, 

 and it was to finding a type of this sort that our efforts were primarily directed. 



We have, as a result of efforts to get as near as possible to the 

 ideal type of cotton plant described in the previous chapter, and keeping 

 in view the primary necessity of a high yield of a long staple cotton, 

 now obtained three fixed strams of cotton by selection from the Jannpfa 

 cotton grown at Dharwar, all of M'hich have bred true through several 

 generations. Each of these has advantages over the ordinary m^x^^d type 

 locally groAvn, and I will describe the origin and characters of each of these 

 selected types. 



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