110 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



The improvement of cotton cultivation in the tropics is a 

 very difficult matter, and one which cannot be left in the hands 

 of the natives there. Indian cotton has not, so far as one can 

 discover, appreciably deteriorated in the last fifty years, as it 

 is practically wild cotton of several species and hybrids, yet, 

 during that time or a little longer, it has gone from near 

 the top to the bottom of the market prices. A similar plant, 

 taken up by the white man, with careful selection of seed, has 

 given the American Upland cottons, which now form the bulk 

 of the world's supply. Leave the native of the tropics to him- 

 self, and he will never select his seed, and without that the 

 quality must remain at the bottom. Either give him a species 

 of cotton, which even when wild is better than his own, or else 

 arrange for Government selection of seed. This may be done 

 in various ways. Probably the best is to have a definite seed 

 farm, on which the selection of seed can be rigidly and carefully 

 attended to, while at the same time definite experiments in 

 hybridisation on Mendelian principles can be made; but another 

 way sometimes adopted is to have inspectors who shall go 

 round the fields of the actual cultivators, and mark the best 

 stocks for seed, the seed of these being subsequently bought 

 and picked by the Government, and exchanged against the 

 cultivators' own seed. 



So far as India is concerned, it is probable that, as already 

 stated, it may be wiser at first to aim at an increased yield of 

 the local races, while at the same time carrying on experiments 

 in the production of better qualities for export purposes. Ac- 

 climatisation of foreign cottons, so often held up as the most 

 promising way of improvement, is very hazardous. It has been 

 tried on hundreds of occasions in India, and good seed has 

 been distributed to the cultivators, but in a few years at most 

 all trace of it has been lost. 



Jute. Next to cotton, this is the most important fibre 

 cultivation in the tropics. A very large area in Bengal is 

 devoted to this crop, and of late it has to some extent been 

 supplanting the cultivation of rice in that province. The jute 

 plant (Corchorus capsularis and other species) is a tall, stout 



