240 WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



resorted to to meet their necessities during the cotton famine of 1860 

 and subsequent years, (b) In Transcaucasia there is a second cotton 

 (G. Nanking, no doubt) which has been grown from the most ancient 

 times, and the greater part of the production ' falls to the Erivan 

 government, which supplies more than nine-tenths of the cotton 

 produced in the country. Furthermore, small patches of cotton are 

 met with in the governments of Elisavetpol, Baku, Kutais and even 

 Tiflis. The total production in Transcaucasia is about 600,000 

 pouds, more than half of which is Upland, the rest being from the 

 local plant, and Jumel, which is cultivated in small quantities only in 

 the Kutais government.' (c) The third cotton of this region is the 

 Upland, of which mention has just been made. ' When the 

 Russians took full possession of Turkestan, great attention was paid 

 to the development of cotton-growing, as it was of great importance 

 not only to that province itself but also to Eussia, which had to buy 

 cotton abroad, in the United States and in Egypt. Just at that time 

 came the idea of introducing into Turkestan the American cotton 

 plant, which was of superior quality to the local varieties. During 

 ten years all attempts to cultivate American cotton in Turkestan 

 were unsuccessful for many reasons, and especially from the desire 

 to grow the so-called Sea Island cotton, G. barbadense, which was 

 unable to weather the dry climate of Turkestan. Only in 1880 was 

 it learned that the Upland cotton, G. hirsutum, could be successfully 

 grown there, and immediately energetic measures were taken for 

 its cultivation. In Tashkend a cotton plantation was established ; 

 manuals for the culture of the American Upland cotton were pub- 

 lished in Eussian and in the local languages, and seed was distributed 

 free of cost to those who desired it, and moreover the sale of cotton 

 fibre from American seed was guaranteed." 



' The construction of the Transcaspian Eailroad had an important 

 bearing also on the increase of cotton-growing in Turkestan.' ' In 

 1884 not more than 300 dessiatines were sown . . . and in 1892 the 

 area had been increased to 100,000 dessiatines, of which three- 

 quarters were Upland and one quarter local seed. The yield is now 

 estimated at 2 million pouds, the greatest quantity coming from 

 Fergan territory and the expansion of cotton cultivation in Turkestan 

 is limited only by the amount of land sufficiently irrigated to be 

 suitable for cotton. But with a more economical utilisation of the 

 waters of the Syr-Darya and the construction of new irrigation 

 systems, the cultivation in Turkestan may be greatly increased.' The 



