COTTON IN INDIA 61 



great value for mixing with silk and for the produc- 

 tion of fabrics with a brilliant finish. The brown 

 colour of the Mitafifi, Nubari and some other types 

 permits of their use in the manufacture of certain 

 articles,, such as underclothing, curtains and em- 

 broidery in which the natural e'en! shade is preferred. 

 Egyptian cotton is also of great utility for the pro- 

 duction of strong sewing thread, as well as for cycle 

 and motor tyres and other purposes for which strength 

 and smoothness are required. 



PRODUCTION IN INDIA 



The cultivation of cotton and its manufacture into 

 textiles have probably been practised in India for 

 three or four thousand years. 



Indian cotton was almost exclusively employed in 

 the British cotton industry during its early years, 

 but was subsequently replaced by the product of the 

 United States. Much of the fibre formerly produced 

 in India was of a high grade but, during the last 

 hundred years or so, a striking change has taken place. 

 Short-stapled, inferior varieties have appeared, and 

 have become distributed throughout the country, 

 whilst the cultivation of the finer kinds has become 

 greatly restricted. The causes of this change may be 

 briefly indicated. In the first place, the introduction 

 of ginning machinery led the growers in many locali- 

 ties to cease their custom of ginning their cotton by 

 hand and reserving their seed for sowing, and induced 

 them to send their produce to the public ginning 

 factories, with the result that cotton from widely 

 separated areas was mixed together. The seed was 

 returned to the cultivators without discrimination, 

 and thus it commonly happened to be quite unfitted 

 for the particular locality in which it was to be sown. 

 Another cause was the change of market consequent 

 on the English spinners having abandoned Indian 

 cotton in favour of that of the United States. The 

 demand for the finer staples decreased, and a market 

 for the inferior kinds was found in Japan, Germany, 

 and India itself, where numerous mills were erected 



