COTTON 199 



perennial variety called rozi, which lasts for four or more 

 years. This is never grown except as a mixture with 

 other crops. The soil of this district under normal con- 

 ditions is suitable for the culture of exotics, and a fair 

 measure of success has been obtained in the introduction 

 of Cambodia under irrigation. 



In years past there were strong hopes that Bourbon 

 would succeed as a field crop under irrigation in this 

 tract. The earlier results were very promising, but, as 

 is usually the case with the exotic cottons in India, the 

 series of adverse seasons destroyed the crop. Isolated 

 plants continued to persist in the hedges especially, and 

 it was a discovery of such that led Mr. Spence again 

 to foster the" hope that its cultivation would really be 

 remunerative if conducted on the proper lines. His 

 experiments also, after at first promising well, finally 

 closed in the usual disaster. 



The successive trials with many pure and crossed 

 varieties of exotic, tree, and annual cottons on the Nadiad 

 Farm over a series of years proved that, however well 

 they flourished in normal years, they invariably succumbed 

 to the vicissitudes of abnormal seasons. 



In the succeeding District of Ahmedabad, of the three 

 indigenous types called Lalio, Wagad, and Mathio, the 

 latter in the Dhandhuka taluka bordering Kathiawar, the 

 first two are herbaceums and the third is a neglectum. 

 Lalio as an irrigated crop and Wagad as a dry crop, in 

 the opinion of people most capable of judging, will 

 always compete profitably with any exotic cotton intro- 

 duced to this tract. 



The statement on pp. 200-201, extracted from the 

 Annual Report of the Surat Agricultural Station for 1912- 

 13, gives the composition of the cotton crop as it naturally 

 exists in the fields throughout Guzerat. 



Although the greater proportion of the Guzerat cottons 

 belong botanically to one species, they differ greatly 

 amongst each other from an agricultural and commercial 

 point of view. It is obvious that these well-known differ- 

 ences must be due to the physical constituents of the soils 

 and climatic conditions. A number of soil samples were 

 taken and submitted to Dr. Leather for physical and 



