IMPROVEMENT OF STOCKS 337 



and cob-nut-shaped, and only half opening when ripe. Dholera 

 and Western Madras, as supplied to me, are of this kind. Now 

 a cross between a high-class plant of this form and a good 

 Hinganghat would be a great step.' 



There is perhaps no feature of Major Trevor Clarke's experiments Bani as a 

 that would seem to demand more careful consideration than the j/g s tock. 

 urgency of his recommendation for Hinganghat cotton being accepted 

 as one of the elements in hybrid stocks that is to say, the plant 

 that I have designated as G. Nanking, var. Bani (pp. 131-4). In one 

 passage, for example, he observes, 'Any of the larger and coarser 

 Indian sorts would give size and vigour to Hinganghat, but with 

 little abstraction of its silky qualities. I have proved this and 

 enclose samples in illustration. What I mean by nurmah is your 

 wild red-blossomed shrubby cotton. The hybrid is earlier to blossom 

 and prolific ; staple almost identical with Hinganghat as to length, 

 as both parents are alike in this particular. I enclose samples 

 of such Hinganghat crosses as I have fruited myself. They are 

 great successes here.' 



In other instances Major Trevor Clarke deals with his experiments Clarke's 

 with the American cottons. He speaks of having crossed Sea Island 

 with New Orleans ; of New Orleans by the hybrid Georgian. He . 

 refers to the Pernambuco as the hardiest sort met with, although it cotton, 

 yields a short staple. Because of its hardiness it was deemed as a 

 specially valuable stock to experiment with. He crossed ' Vine 

 cotton ' with Sea Island, and found the hybrid a late bearer but the 

 cotton magnificent. He refers to the fact of Bourbon having been 

 long successfully grown in India, and accordingly suggests its 

 hybridisation with Sea Island as worthy of being attempted. Its 

 fibre, he adds ' is the finest (in tenuity) I ever saw.' 



These passages briefly indicate the extent and value of Major Elements 

 Trevor Clarke's experiments, and it is disappointing that two circum- 

 stances should have combined to obscure and finally obliterate them 

 entirely from public attention : first, the immense prosperity of the 

 American supply rendered other fields of comparatively little interest; 

 and second the false conception that the American results might be 

 engrafted on to all other countries by acclimatisation without the 

 labour and expense of direct production from local stocks. 



The neglect to develop local stocks cannot, however, be placed to 

 Major Trevor Clarke's account, for he recommended the Indian 

 Cotton Commissioner ' to begin with cross-breeding by yourselves. 



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