198 COTTON 



Department, therefore, has perforce to concentrate its 

 energies on the problem of how to improve a product 

 which, as it is, is admittedly amongst the most superior 

 in India. By judicious crossing and selection a strain 

 has been produced which is valued at 5 per cent, above 

 the article ordinarily brought to market, and there is 

 sufficient evidence at hand to warrant the hope that a 

 still better result can be obtained. It is unfortunate 

 that, as the improvement has been effected without any 

 modification or alteration in the botanical characteristics 

 of the local type of the plant, these better kinds 

 cannot be distinguished in the fields, so that the trade 

 have to rely on the testimony of the supervising officers 

 of the Department that the cottons brought to market 

 are really what they profess to be. In practice it seems 

 that these cottons are accepted on their ginning per- 

 centage, which is slightly higher than in the case of the 

 unselected types. 



It will, therefore, be understood that in the Southern 

 Guzerat tract the conditions are totally adverse to the 

 introduction of any exotic variety whatever, and the only 

 possible scope for improvement is in the raising of the 

 standard, which is already sufficiently high. The new 

 types, having been developed by crossing and selection 

 of local forms, all belong to the same species. The 

 only tangible distinctions which they present are slightly 

 increased length of fibre and percentage of cotton to 

 seed. Up to the limit of the black soil in the Broach 

 District, northwards from Broach round Baroda and 

 towards Cambay, where the soil is lighter than in the 

 tract already dealt with, the cultivators find that the 

 local varieties called Kanvi and Ghogari (the latter exist- 

 ing more as an admixture than as a pure crop on account 

 of its high percentage) are more profitable to grow than 

 the more valuable Broach. To the ordinary eye there is 

 practically no difference in the appearance of the plants, 

 but the environment has favoured the development of an 

 agricultural race. In this tract the only improvement to 

 be expected in the indigenous cottons is in a direction of 

 an increased quantity and higher percentage. 



The indigenous cotton of the Kaira District is a 



