116 STUDIES IN INDIAN COTTONS 



(()) TIr' Problem of the linprovenient of Cotton in the United 

 J-*rovinces of Agra and Oudh. Pamphlet published in 

 fonjiiiiction with Dr. Parr, Deputy Director, Western 

 Circle., in connection with the U. P. Exhibition, 

 Allahabad, and reprinted in the Agricultural Journal 

 of India, Vol. VI. Pt. 1. 

 (7) Memoirs of the Dept. of Agri. in India, Botanical Series, 

 TV. No. 5. 

 In adtlition, an article of a more general nature on the breeding 

 of cotton has been written for Prof. Fruwirth's " Die Ziichtung der 

 landwirtschaf thche Kulturpflanzen. " 



Of the above. No. 4 contains the fullest detail of the experi- 

 ments, but is limited to those problems of which the scientific 

 aspect only had been fully developed ; moreover, in it the results 

 are only carried down to the P\ generation. The economic aspect 

 received little notice and has only been treated in briefest outline 

 in the pamphlet (6) and from a very special point of view in the 

 recent memoir (5). 



The work divides itself broadly into two sections, the Scientific 

 and the Economic, the former dealing with all those points con- 

 cerning the characters, and behaviour of these, which it is necessary 

 to ascertain to indicate the most promising lines on which to develop 

 the economic work and the conditions under which this work nnist 

 be carried out, the latter, with the actual experiments undertaken 

 to effect the desired improvement. 



The first step in any work, such as the present, is to ascertain 

 the extent of the material at hand for the purpose of experiment, 

 or, in other words, using the plant as a unit, to determine the 

 numbe!' of forms or types it is possible to isolate and cultivate in a 

 condition of purity. Throughout India there are cultivated a 

 series of (cottons including numerous and diverse forms. The 

 grouping of these into a systematic series of which the unit is the 

 type, or that form of plant which can be recognised as distinct and 

 remains thus distinct when cultivated under conditions which 

 ensure purity, is the first object and the one which forms the basis 

 for subsec^uent experiments, 



