REPORT ON THE MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT 



OF THE QUALITY OF EGYPTIAN COTTON 



AND THE INCREASE OF ITS YIELD, 



BY H. MARTIN LEAKE, M.A., 

 DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE, UNITED PROVINCES, INDIA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In letter No. 383 4-1/3, dated May 19, 1919, of the Ministry 

 of Agriculture, I was asked to present a report embodying my " re- 

 commendations with a view to the maintenance and improvement 

 of the quality of Egyptian cotton and the increase of its yield." 

 The existing qualities are definite, and possess a material extant 

 physical basis. The question of their maintenance thus offers a 

 definite concrete problem. The same is the case with the question 

 of yield, and the improvement of the yield consists in the very definite 

 and material fact of an addition to the return obtained from the 

 acre or fedddn. No such definiteness attaches to the third problem 

 laid before me, that of the improvement of quality. Quality is a 

 relative term, and the nature of quality, good or bad, depends on the 

 use to which the material in question is put. These uses may vary 

 from time to time, and it is necessary, therefore, to study these uses, 

 and to form an idea of the probable tendencies in what we may term 

 the economic aspect before it is possible to decide what will constitute 

 an improvement. 



There are, in fact, two directions from which a problem" such as 

 is presented by cotton production may be approached. We may 

 ignore, for the time being, the economic, and concentrate on the 

 agricultural aspect. In so doing, we should concentrate on the 

 biological and physical problems involved ; on the biological side, 

 endeavour to ascertain that plant which will give the maximum return 

 under the uncontrollable conditions of the environment, and, on 

 the physical side, attempt so to modify the controllable conditions of 

 that environment, that the plant which we have chosen may develop 

 to the full. Or, we may commence with the study of the economic 

 aspect, endeavour to ascertain the uses to which the raw product is 

 put and the characteristics which give to that raw product its com- 

 mercial value ; to form an idea of what characteristics are most 

 desirable in as far as their possession is likely to increase the value of 

 the raw material which possesses them, and, having arrived, as far 

 as may be, at a definite conclusion on this matter, we may attempt 

 to arrive at that standard by means of biological investigation. 



