GOSSYPIUM 



INFLUENCE OF SEASONS CULTIVATION 



Bengal 



outturn for the same year was 60,714 cwt., so the total amount available 

 lot-local purposes was 146, 938 cwt. The town of Calcutta imported by rail rxxi 

 and riv.THM.l by sea (coastwise) 1,063,601 cwt. and .- 



a in -t mi port of 973,005. By adding the foreign imports (2,331 cwt.) we get a 

 total net import of 975..W) cut. The foreign exports for the same year 

 i)7 cwt., so that the amount available for the Calcutta mills was 

 171.7''.*.* owt. Including the supply for the province (146,938 cwt.), a total 

 of 64.~>, .">()."> ( \vt. met the local consumption. 



Crops, Season*, etc. There are generally speaking two cotton crops in Two Crop*, 

 i. t!i. raily, sown during the monsoon rains and harvested during tho n.lil 

 i . and the late, sown at the close of the rainy season and harvested during 

 tln> dot weather. Early cotton is grown chiefly in the Santal Parganas, Sam- 

 l.alpnr. MnnMiura, Singhbhum and Angul ; late cotton in Saran, MuzafTarpm 

 anil Darlihan^u. 



It i.-! not deemed necessary to detail the methods of cultivation or other such Bihar Cotton. 

 I .art iculars, since the crop is hardly of sufficient value. In Saran (the largest cotton- 

 ^nnvini: district of Bengal) cotton is sown as a secondary crop, the seed being 

 >..\\ n broadcasted. The so-called bhadoi cotton of Saran is sown in January 

 ami February and reaped in August ; the byaakhi sown in June and July and 

 harvested in April. Maxwell-Lefroy (Notes on Cotton in Bihar, Bull. Agri. Res. 

 Instit., P-uaa, Feb. 1904) mentions three ways by which cotton cultivation 

 might be improved by drainage, growing with other crops, and sowing at 

 another time of year. He considers the failure of cotton in Bihar as due 

 largely to its inability to withstand the wet season, and the improvements 

 he suggests have as their main object the lessening of the effects of the wet 

 weather. He advises sowing in August to October instead of June as the young Change In 

 plants would not then have to struggle through the long rainy season, and the 8eason . 

 insect pests, which are worst in June, July and August, would not affect the crop 

 seriously. In a note drawn up at the request of the Lieutenant-Governor of 

 Bengal, Mollison (Ind. PI. Gaz., March 12, 1904, 345) gives an account of recent 

 experiments in Bihar, which the reader should consult ; also the efforts made 

 1>\ Messrs. Shaw, Wallace & Co. of Calcutta to grow tree cottons in various Tree Cotton, 

 parts of the province. Particulars of these latter experiments have been given by 

 Sly (Proc. Qovt. Ind. Dept. Rev. and Agri., March 1905.) \Cf. Boyle, Cult, 

 and Comm. of Cotton in India, 1851, 241.-62; Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 

 1860, 187-8 ; Hunter, Stat. Ace. Beng., 1877, xvi., 105, 342-3 ; Sen, Rept. 

 Agri. Stat. Dacca, 1889, 51-2; Basu, Agri. Lohardaga, 1890, pt. i., 71-3; 

 ii., 35-7; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 86-8; Middleton, I.e. 9-12; Banerjei, 

 Monog. on Cotton Fabrics Beng., 1898; Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 1903; 

 Natural Fert. available for Cotton in Ind., Dept. Rev. and Agri. Proc., May 

 1904; Ind. PI. and Oard., Dec. 3, 1904; Feb. 18, 1905, 118-9; Capital, 

 Jan. 14, 1904, 50.] 



8. EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM. Area and Production. The D.E.P., 



area under cotton represents some 0*3 per cent, of the total under cotton iv., 139-46. 



in British India. In 1904-5 it was estimated at 50,000 acres and the 



yi.'.ld 17,000 bales (60,714 cwt.) ; in 1905-6 at 61,000 acres with the same 



yield ; while the latest forecast, namely for 1906-7, puts the area at 



57,333 acres and the yield at 13,680 bales (48,857 cwt.). The Chitta- 



gong hill tracts are there shown to have an area of 26,636 acres ; Garo 



hills, 23,000 ; Nowgong, 3,400 ; Sylhet, 2,060 ; Khasia and Jaintia hills, 



1,000 ; while smaller areas are recorded in Cachar, Sibsagar, Goalpara, 



Jalpaiguri and Kamrup. 



[Cf. Montgomery Martin, Hist. Antiq., etc., E. Ind., 1838, iii., 665, 671, 686-8, 

 694; Hunter, Stat. Ace. Assam, 1879, i., 252; ii., 151, 191, 225-6, 288; Middle- 

 ton, Assam Cottons, I.e. 18-20 ; Ann. Rept. Dept. Land Rec. and Agri. Assam, 1901-3, 

 22 ; Capital, May 19, 1904.] 



9. BURMA. Area and Production. Burma produces about 0'9 per D.E.P., 

 cent, of the total cotton crop of British India. The area for 1904-5 was iv -> 148-52. 

 estimated at 189,000 acres and the yield 139,285 cwt., or 39,000 bales. Burma - 



607 



and Assam. 



