COTTON 153 



look principally to the earning and payment of dividends, 

 and it is not to be expected that they should regard cotton 

 growing entirely from the Association's point of view. 

 Although the affairs of the Association must as far as 

 possible be run on business lines, in order to avoid financial 

 disaster, at the same time the Council consider and rightly 

 that the establishment and extension of cotton growing 

 must be paramount to the earning of dividends. In other 

 words, the Association must and do take risks which 

 ordinary commercial companies would have to refuse. 



In the early days large quantities of seed of various 

 varieties were distributed indiscriminately, and in any ship- 

 ment of Uganda cotton one could find cotton of every 

 variety and nature mixed together, and in one single bale 

 one would find cotton varying from ^ to \y^ inches in 

 length. Representations have been frequently made by the 

 Association that it was of the greatest importance that there 

 should be a properly equipped Department of Agriculture, 

 and that the distribution of seed for sowing must be under 

 Government control. This is the most vital question in con- 

 nection with cotton growing, for unless the seed issued to 

 the natives is sound in quality and pure in strain everything 

 else is thrown away. One may have- the most perfect 

 climate and the most excellent soil in the world and the best 

 methods of cultivation, but unless the seed sown is of good 

 quality all these other advantages are wasted. 



One of the difficulties was to find trained experts to 

 work in an Agricultural Department, and the Association 

 have frequently urged the Government to establish a system 

 of scholarships whereby young men who have had a good 

 scientific training at home could subsequently obtain the 

 necessary practical training in the various branches of 

 tropical agriculture. 



Even to-day Uganda cotton is by no means satisfactory 

 in quality, and one of the worst defects is the large amount 

 of stained and weak cotton which not only seriously affects 

 the selling price but also renders it more difficult of sale. 

 Short-stapled cotton which is regular in length and quality 

 will often fetch a higher price and be easier to sell than 

 longer-stapled cotton which contains a considerable propor- 

 tion of stained and short fibre. It is of the very greatest 

 importance to the spinner to be able to depend on the 

 regularity of any particular mark or brand of cotton 

 which he may buy, and I am sorry to say that Uganda cotton 

 varies as much as id. to 2d. per pound in value. As I pre- 

 viously mentioned. Lagos cotton does not vary one-farthing 



