A NOTE ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF COTTON IN 

 BRITISH INDIA. 



By G. A. GAMMIE, F.L.S. 

 Imperial Cotton Specialist, India. 



I. THE POSITION OF INDIAN COTTON UP TO 1890. 



IN Dr. J. Forbes Royle's book on the " Culture and 

 Commerce of Cotton in India, etc.," published in 1851, 

 we have an exhaustive account of the position of Indian 

 cotton as it stood up to that year, and it is necessary 

 to understand that the avowed object of all the early 

 trials was to produce cotton which could compete on 

 equal terms with that of America in, at least, the English 

 markets. It was tacitly assumed that no indigenous kind 

 could possibly answer the purpose, so that the experi- 

 ments from the first were mainly directed to the intro- 

 duction of superior exotic varieties. 



The present section of this paper is compiled from 

 Dr. Royle's book and some other sources with a view 

 to make clear in what manner the problem of the improve- 

 ment of Indian cotton was attacked before the establish- 

 ment of the present Department of Agriculture in India. 



Before the acute demand for cotton arose in the markets 

 of the world India was looked upon as a great country 

 which grew immense quantities of raw material, making 

 it up into useful clothing for her own people. She was 

 also famous from ancient times for exporting elegant 

 fabrics to the most civilized nations. Now that such an 

 increasing call for the raw material has been made, it 

 has become usual to look upon the country as a vast 

 cotton farm, whose business it should be to supply the 

 raw material to Europe, and to take back in any quan- 

 tities the manufactured goods that the makers choose 

 to send. When we realize the conseauences that 



