SAO PAULO 83 



The Institute has 314 hectares under cultivation, the greater part 

 being used for coffee, but quite a large area of land is devoted to 

 cotton. There were four varieties out of a great number which 

 attracted my attention, particulars of which are : 



Ginning Outturn 

 Durango . . . . Yield : 2,050 kilos per hectare . . 29 per cent. 



Length of fibre : 27 • 1 mm. 



Russell Big Boll .. Yield: 1,641 kilos .. .. 32 -3 per cent. 



Length: 29-4 mm. 



Sea Island B. .. Yield : 3,030 kilos .. .. 31 -4 per cent. 



Length : 31-7 mm. 

 Kerman X. . . Yield not yet obtainable. 



Campo Brito. Length : about 30 mm. 



The names given are misleading, as they have nothing to do with 

 California or the Sea Island district. 



Altogether 40 varieties were grown, one hectare of each. These 

 are too many and moreover no protection was given against cross 

 fertilisation. I pointed this out and the Director undertook to remedy 

 this defect. There is plenty of land available and other crops than 

 cotton can be grown between these experimental plots. — It would 

 also be well to have check-plots in different parts of the estate. 



At PiRACiCABA not very far from Campinas is the Agricultural 

 School " Luiz de Queiroz," situated in a beautiful park, towards the 

 upkeep of which the Sao Paulo Government pays annually 370 contos 

 and the Federal Government 30 contos. 



The attendance this year is 110 students ; all reside in the town 

 of Piracicaba. There are 15 professors on the teaching staff ; each 

 has his own magnificent laboratory. The school is extremely well 

 fitted up with the latest appliances and the chemical laboratories are 

 probably not excelled by those of the Universities of Europe. 



Although this school is situated in a cotton centre, no apparatus 

 for measuring the length of fibre, resistance, etc. (such as we found 

 even in Mr. Street's mill in Sao Paulo), were provided. Indeed little 

 attention seems to be paid to cotton. 



The school has 309 hectares of ground, 78 of which are cultivated 

 and of the latter only 8 are under cotton. No seed selection has been 

 made nor even plant selection and one of the professors told me that 

 it was not intended to grow cotton at all in the coming season. The 

 yield of the cotton plots was above the average and the cotton looked 

 well though the length of the cotton was lacking in uniformity. 

 Even here the cotton picked was very dirty and stalks were present 

 in large quantities. 



It is to be hoped that the authorities will insist upon greater 

 attention being given to cotton in this excellently fitted-up school. 

 The students are generally sons of landowners and if they cannot get 

 an opportunity of learning plant selection and seed breeding in an 

 institute of this kind, it is hardly to be expected that they will learn 

 it in any other way. 



