MISSION INDUSTRIES 41 



ties it displaced, with the present methods and imple- 

 ments. But this improved seed responds to better 

 methods in a way the local varieties do not, so that when 

 the better methods are introduced a net increase is ob- 

 tained of fifty to one hundred per cent, more than the 

 local varieties yield. Dr. Barber, Imperial Botanist, 

 worked on sugar cane for seven years. The local variety 

 of cane sugar grown in Northern India is a thin, hard 

 cane chosen because of its power to resist the attacks of 

 the wild pig, jackal, deer and disease. It responds only 

 slightly to manuring and better cultivation. It gives 

 about ten tons of cane per acre and less than a ton of 

 sugar. The improved variety of cane is giving up to 

 forty tons of cane per acre with over four tons of 

 sugar. 



Most of India's cotton is short staple, coarse fiber, 

 low-yielding, ginning percentage 25-33 (the ginning 

 percentage is the proportion of fiber or lint to seed). 

 Most of the Indian varieties have a hairy leaf. Most 

 good long staple cottons have a smooth leaf. The smooth 

 leaf is readily attacked by insects while the hairy leaf 

 is not. Mr. Leake, Director of Agriculture of the 

 United Provinces at Cawnpur, has crossed different varie- 

 ties of cotton so that he now has a hairy-leafed, long- 

 staple cotton with a high-ginning percentage of 35-40 

 per cent. This cotton is worth more per pound than 

 the short staple. Mr. Roberts, Principal of the Agri- 

 cultural College at Lyalpur, Punjab, has done much to 

 increase the yields and quality of American cotton grown 

 in the Punjab. He has further devised a scheme 

 for selling this improved cotton which gives a fair 

 share of the increase to the farmer who grew the 

 cotton. 



