366 COTION 



conflict in cotton between quality and quantity. The 

 Sakellaridis cotton in Egypt, the Cambodia in India, have 

 proved that it is possible at the same time to make cotton 

 more valuable to a spinner and at the same time more 

 prolific, and therefore less expensive, to the grower. 

 Here, then, is another objective for the cotton-growing 

 scientist. I suppose though I do not actually know 

 that in each country some obscure laws of climate and 

 soil eventually prescribe what cottons can be grown 

 prolifically. It is for the individual planter and for the 

 Agricultural Department of each Government to ascer- 

 tain within these limits what kind of cotton will give the 

 greatest monetary return. This is roughly the product 

 of the two factors, quantity of lint production multiplied 

 by price obtainable. The relative price obtainable for 

 any cotton as compared with others which might be 

 grown is necessarily variable. It varies partly as the 

 world's needs alter. It varies still more as the quantity 

 produced increases or decreases. Sakellaridis has spoilt 

 its price by its own productivity. But it will still be 

 grown in Egypt because it pays the grower even at the 

 lower price. And in a few years, if its excellence is pre- 

 served, it will regain its price, because the spinners who 

 once use it can never go back to a poorer cotton. 



I suggest here, as a broad rule for every country and 

 for every plantation, that it is bad business to grow 

 cotton of small value per pound instead of higher-priced 

 cotton, unless the cheaper cotton is so prolific that its 

 extra quantity makes up for its lower price. 



We can now 1 define to some extent the questions to be 

 answered by any paternal Government which desires its 

 subjects to produce cotton. Some of the questions are : 

 Can cotton be grown regularly one year after another? 

 This depends on soil and climate. Is there labour avail- 

 able for growing and picking? What kinds of cotton 

 can be grown, and therefore what price can be expected 

 in the market ? What will be the cost of carriage and 

 merchanting ? And, therefore, will the price that remains 

 for the grower give him a reasonable return when multi- 

 plied by the quantity he can grow? Will it pay him as 

 well as other crops possible to be grown ? 



