GOSSYPIUM 



IMPROVEMENT 

 OF STOCK 



THE COTTON PLANT 



Improvement. 



Seed Farms. 



Directions of 

 Improvement. 



Cotton Expert. 



Experiments in 

 Sind. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 60-84. 

 Bombay. 



Area and Yield. 



of other parts of the country. This tendency of the fibre to swell in bleaching 

 is the criterion by which the weavers judge of its quality, but whether it depends 

 on any adherent property in the cotton itself, or on the water used in the bleach- 

 ing is not known, though there is reason to believe that it is principally owing 

 to the latter. The thread manufactured at Duinroy, which was reported by 

 Mr. Bebb, the Commercial Resident, to swell the most, is found by the weavers 

 at present to be equal to the thread of the best aurunga or to swell the least if 

 bleached in Dacca, but the reverse, as Mr. Bebb describes it, if the water of 

 Dumroy be used in the process." 



Lastly, Sen (Eept. Agri. Stat. Dacca, 1889, 52) also says : " The cultivation 

 is not now done half so carefully as was the case at the time of Dr. 

 Taylor. The field is prepared by two to four ploughings and as many harrowings. 

 Furrows are then drawn a cubit apart, and in these furrows cotton seeds previously 

 moistened with dung-water are dropped in thickly. When the plants come out 

 they are thinned to a distance of a foot from one another." (See Cultivation 

 in Bengal, p. 607.) 



Improvement, when seriously contemplated, will have to be undertaken, 

 not at a great central farm for all India, but district by district. The 

 establishment of seed farms for the supply of specially improved indigenous 

 stock a subject I had the pleasure of recommending to the consideration of 

 the Scientific Board of Advice at their first meeting is at present earnestly 

 engaging the attention of the agricultural experts of the Government 

 of India. It may, therefore, suffice by way of concluding this brief sketch 

 of the present position and knowledge regarding the possible methods and 

 results of improvement of cotton stock, to recapitulate the main ideas. 

 Improvement is possible by (a) Selection of seed, in adaptation to environ- 

 ment and trade requirements ; (6) Hybridisation, an additional agency 

 to attain these objects ; (c) Acclimatisation of prized foreign stocks. All 

 three methods are in India receiving consideration at present. For many of 

 the cotton districts, selection from existing stocks seems the most hopeful 

 method. It may be said, however, that in the discovery of absolutely new 

 stocks, hybridisation is often of special value. 



The Government of India have recently appointed an expert in charge 

 of cotton experiments. The results so far attained in selection and 

 crossing are admittedly of a tentative nature, but Gammie's first report 

 (Note on the Class. Ind. Cottons and Cross-breeding Exper., Poona Farm, 

 1901-2) manifests a useful start as accomplished. The endeavours of the 

 Bombay Government to bring the vast tracts of Sind under Egyptian 

 cotton through the supply of cheap canal water, would seem to have given 

 much promise, and in the public press repeated mention has recently been 

 made of the high prices realised for the cotton already produced. It 

 may thus be confidently affirmed that there does not appear to be any 

 sufficient reason for doubting the success likely to be attained in India 

 than in other countries with the production of superior cottons. The 

 only untoward anticipations centre around the willingness or ability of 

 the Native cultivator to advance with the times. [Cf. R. J. Redding, 

 Essential Steps in Securing an Early Crop of Cotton, in U.S. Dept. Agri. 

 Farmer's Bull., 1905, No. 217 ; Testing Cotton Seed, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 



1906, i., pt. ii., 174 ; also Sly, Fumigation American Cotton Seed, etc., 



1907, ii., pt. ii., 212.] 



///. CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 

 1. BOMBAY AND SIND.W&tt, I.e. 134-7, 139-54. 

 Area and Production. According to the official Agricultural 

 Statistics, the total area under cotton for 1904-5 in the British dis- 

 tricts was 3,605,985 acres. The most important localities were Khan- 



596 



