335 



tional in Northern Nigeria during the past year. Yes, they 

 were exceptional. The drought was more severe, I believe, 

 than it had been before; but my remarks were in reference 

 principally to the shedding of bolls and of buds which occurred 

 during the wet season. During the dry season there was less 

 shedding; the plants did not produce so many flowers during 

 the dry season. If more rain had fallen during the dry season, 

 then I believe there would have been a very good crop, and 

 no one would have suspected that much shedding had occurred. 

 However, the principal shedding took place during the wet 

 season, not during' the dry season. 



As regards Colonel Collens's question as to the conditions 

 of cotton growing in West Africa and the West Indies, I 

 would reply that there is absolutely no comparison. In the 

 West Indies we were working on cotton acclimatized to the 

 country, a type of cotton with which we had specialized. We 

 have been carrying on seed selection work in the West Indies 

 for a good number of years, and have brought the cotton up 

 to such a point that, as you have heard this morning from 

 Mr. Sands, certain cotton is being sold for as much as 

 35. 4d. per Ib. The cotton produced in Nigeria is being sold 

 by the natives for i^d. per Ib. ; probably the lint would be 

 worth about 7<i. per Ib., so that you will see there is very little 

 comparison between the two as regards the cotton. 



Then, again, as regards the growers of the cotton there is 

 no comparison. In the West Indies it is in the hands of the 

 white man; out in Africa the white man has nothing whatever 

 to do with it. It is a native crop that has been grown by the 

 natives from time immemorial in order to manufacture cloth 

 for themselves, and not with any idea whatever of putting it 

 on the market. There is, therefore, absolutely no comparison 

 between the cotton production in West Africa and the cotton 

 production in the West Indies. 



COTTON CULTIVATION IN UGANDA. 



By SAMUEL SIMPSON, B.Sc., 

 Director of Agriculture, Uganda. 



[ABSTRACT.] 



The Ug'anda Protectorate is the largest cotton-producing 

 country in Africa with the exception of Egypt, and statistics 

 are given showing the gradual development of the industry 

 from 1904-5, when 180 cwt. valued at 236 were exported, to 

 1913-14, when 99,924 cwt. valued at 317,689 w r ere produced. 



Uganda cotton was formerly very mixed and dirty, and the 

 efforts made to get rid of these defects are described. 



