INTRODUCTION 11 



journey was in all 11,000 miles. 



Having travelled over such enormous distances in so short a time 

 it is to be expected that some, I hope only slight, inaccuracies have 

 crept into my Report : I trust that these will not be too numerous. 



Owing to the shortage of time we were unable to visit the following 

 States, which also produce cotton : — Piauhy, Ceara, Maranhao, 

 Amazonas and Goyaz. 



The method of collecting and imparting information consisted 

 generally in inspecting the fields in each district and discussing later 

 with the farmers, planters and merchants the various points at issue ; 

 at many places we were able to hold meetings with the cultivators 

 and to explain to them where their method of cultivation was at fault. 

 With a view to interesting larger circles in the cotton problem I was 

 asked by various Agricultural and other Societies to give lectures in 

 the principal centres. Four of these were delivered in the cities of 

 Sao Paulo, Bello Horizonte, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. At these 

 gatherings we had present representatives of the cabinet ministers, 

 senators, deputies, cotton millowners, planters and merchants, and 

 a wide publicity was given to the lectures in the Press. Various 

 societies reprinted these lectures and distributed them in pamphlet 

 form amongst the cultivators. 



The paper which I read before the National Agricultural Society 

 at Rio de Janeiro, at which the Minister of Agriculture took the chair, 

 gives a synopsis of the impressions of the entire journey for which 

 reason I append a translation of it to this report (see pp. 210). Those 

 readers who do not wish to study the Brazilian cotton question in detail 

 will gather the main points from a perusal of this paper. The other 

 three lectures dealt more especially with the conditions obtaining in 

 the respective States. 



The Brazilian Press gave daily reports on the progress of 

 our journey, and dealt in many articles with cotton growing, thus 

 contributing largely to the creation of a public interest in cotton. 



Many of the photographs appearing in this Report were taken 

 by Mr. Fritz Jen^ny, a member of the Mission. 



Dr. W. Lawrence Balls, Chief of the Experimental Department 

 of the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association, Ltd., Man- 

 chester, sub nitted a number of my Brazilian cotton samples from the 

 Serido District to scientific tests in the laboratories of this firm, of 

 which the results will be found in pp. 159/165. I herewith acknow- 

 ledge my thanks to Dr. Balls and to the Fine Spinners' Association. 



This Report was submitted in proof form to the meeting of the 

 Committee of the International Cotton Federation, held at Paris, 

 October 12th, 1921, when the following resolutions were unanimously 

 adopted : — 



The Committee of the International Cotton Federation, having 

 received the Report of the General Secretary on the recent journey 

 of the International Cotton Mission to Brazil, expresses the opinion 

 that several of the States visited, especially Sao Paulo, Parahyha 

 and Rio Grande do Norte, are eminently suitable for cotton growing. 



