GUJARAT FINE COTTONS 



Kmrljr 



K' -. !->. 



IS 



M 



Cotton 

 Areas. 



GOSSYPIUM 



VAR. WIOHTIANA 



Indian Long Staple 



annual cotton, with sc.nls iniich Hiiuillor, more definitely and compactly formed 

 than in th<- uihl plant, and tu//. \crynhort. iiHiiully ashy-grey in colour. The 

 clump 1 in the shape and size of the seed is a direct result of ^election int. -nit 

 IINMT percentage weight of seed to floss (lint). Varthema (Travel* (<?d. Hukl. 

 I.". h. |o7) speaks of tin- c-,>ttoii of rmibay being much exported ; he also 

 I Jongal cotton is sent to Mecca, and in a footnote mentions the cotton of 

 Mtu-ma. Mandolslo (Travels, in Olearius. Hist. Muscovy, etc., 1638-40, many 

 passages) makes frequent mention of the cotton of Gujarat and Agra, but not 

 Q a way as to allow any opinions being formed regarding the plant that 

 n-ii grown. In Milburn's Oriental Commerce (1813, i., 280) special mention 

 made of the Ahmood hcin^ at that time the finest grade of Gujarat cotton. 

 Habitat. This is cultivated in a belt of country that fringes the west coast 

 India from the Kami of Kach through Kathiawar and Gujarat, to the southern 

 aratlui country and South India. 



na. The cultivated states of u. ohtnnifuHnn> are exceedingly difficult 

 classify, since they blend almost imperceptibly from one type to another, 

 in ilinu-t adaptation to smaller and less conspicuous climatic and soil variations 

 is experienced in the other cotton areas. There are in India three main 

 of cotton soils with three corresponding main groups of cotton plants : 

 ) Rich Mark loamy soils, such as those of Kathiawar, Gujarat, Khandesh or 

 Karnatak. These are collectively often spoken of as the " Black Cotton 

 ils." (6) Mixed red and black stony soils, such as those of the Deccan, Berar, 

 Central Provinces, etc. (c) Alluvial sandy soils such as those in the Ganges 

 d Indus basins. Within (a) the forms of . o6fiw*/r>Huii are mainly grown ; 

 ) of . \ankiitg; and (c) of . arborrnin. But in each one of these great 

 tton areas there may be local modifications both in climate, soil, exposure, 

 .. so that a limited cultivation of all three plants may exist or be possible 

 any one province. Speaking generally, however, . \nnking, when met 

 ith on the black cotton soils, is of a superior quality to that seen anywhere 

 and .'. Mi-iiureiun is there very nearly unknown. These soils are too valu- 

 le to be used for the inferior grades, and consequently it is within . ifui- 

 itself, as a rule, that the adaptations of plant to environment have 

 en place. On the red and black stony soils . i/i</iiion rapidly de- 

 rates or becomes hybridised with *'. \nniiing. In the areas of sandy dry 

 ils <'. />/i< Ni/<fi i in becomes unknown, and the higher grades there met with 

 some of the stocks or hybrids of a. xunking. It is not to be wondered at, 

 therefore, that in regions so eminently suited for cotton as those possessed of 

 k cotton soils, every little variation in soil, climate, altitude, marine in- 

 ence, etc., etc., should have resulted in the production of special forms adapted, 

 trict by district, if not field by field. The most favoured conditions, and 

 localities accordingly of the finest Indian staples, are Surat, Broach, Ah- 

 bad and Kathiawar. But within even these four districts there are well- 

 ked minor areas that have apparently directly originated some of the special 

 rms of <-. Hbt a Hi fi>i in in that have presently to be indicated. In 1891, and 

 in 1894, I had the pleasure of studying the cottons of Gujarat practically, 

 the last occasion in company with Prof. Middleton, now of the Board of Agri- 

 ture, who was at that time in the service of His Highness the Maharajah of 

 roda. We marched over the greater part of the province as well as Kathiawar 

 hen the cottons were in flower), and Middleton's great personal knowledge of 

 country enabled him not only to point out to me the kaleidoscopic blend- 

 of the plants, but the immediate relationship of these to the variations in 

 il. [Cf. Ann. Rept. Ind. Mua. Calc., 1893-4. 2-5.] The rich, deep black soil of 

 Broach and Navsari is known as the kahnam, and this was observed to yield 

 the finest of all Indian cottons, accordingly known as the kahnami or Broach 

 ilixlii (= country). The districts south-east of Baroda were seen to produce 

 a considerably lower grade of kahnami cotton. So also both sides of the Dhadar 

 ri\tr (between Baroda and Broach) were noted to change into a -calcareous 

 loam with the appearance of a distinctive plant known as the goghari. That 

 particular cotton thus occupies an intermediate zone between the plants of the 

 deep black kahnam soil proper and the lighter or shallower soils known as goradu 

 to the north and west. On these lighter loamy soils are to be found the kanvi 

 cottons of Bhavnagar, Palitana, Dhola, Amreli and Junagardh, the umlili (of 

 Dhollera), and the wagria of Wadhwan, Viramgam, Morvi, North Kathiawar 

 and Kach. 



A similar classification doubtless prevails in the southern Maratha country. 



583 



Chief 



Localities. 



Kahnam 

 Soil. 



