FIBRES 587 



the interests of the cotton planters and to promote this 

 cultivation. 



Although the quantity of cotton which is yearly 

 exported is not small, the indigenous varieties have but 

 Mttle importance for the spinning industry. The fineness 

 kaves much to be desired and the staple is not long 

 enough. As a consequence, when the Government of the 

 Netherland East Indies resolved about the middle of the 

 last century to support and to encourage cotton culti- 

 vation, in the first place in Palembang, this assistance 

 was limited to the supplying of seeds of superior qualities 

 imported from elsewhere. The indigenous varieties were 

 considered to be so inferior that even the possibility of 

 improving them by selection, so that the product should 

 become of more importance to the world's trade, was 

 considered non-existent. 



The attempts of the Government to import exotic 

 varieties of cotton which are considered to be superior 

 were supported financially by some private companies, 

 one of which was the Netherlands Trading Society. 

 These attempts, however, had not the desired success, 

 and, although the Government had no reason to abandon 

 them, it rather preferred to pay more attention than 

 hitherto to an improved quality by means of selection, 

 and there is no doubt that lately this has proved to be 

 the better course. 



The attempts to import superior exotic cotton varieties 

 by means of seeds from elsewhere, such as Sea Island 

 and Upland cotton, were in the meanwhile continued in 

 the eastern part of the Archipelago (in the island of 

 Lombok), and up to the present have been successful, a 

 favourable expert opinion having been expressed in 

 Europe on the cotton grown in the said district. 



Cultivation and Crop. The principal cotton-producing 

 region in the Netherland East Indies is Palembang, in 

 Sumatra. As soon as the rice crop is over the natives 

 sow cotton in the fields. The sowing is done by means 

 of a peculiarly shaped stick, by which holes of about 

 2 cm. depth are made. In each of these holes three to 

 five seeds are laid. 



Much care is paid to the plantation for some weeks 



