IMPROVEMENT OF PLANT 139 



sively planted with somewhat variable results. One 

 variety only should be introduced, and this should possess 

 cropping and lint records suitable for European require- 

 ments. Georgia or Texas quick-maturing kinds are 

 indicated, but not the lowland kinds such as are grown 

 in the Mississippi valley. 



The foregoing remarks apply to those regions only 

 where it seems possible that the quality of cotton which 

 is in most general demand in Lancashire can be exten- 

 sively grown, but are not applicable to the Niger Valley. 

 As will be seen by a reference to the table of valuations, 

 a cotton exists in the Bassa and Nassarawa Provinces 

 which is comparable with a higher standard grade than 

 Middling American, the type to be produced in the north. 

 Efforts should be made to keep this latter variety free from 

 the possibility of admixture with exotic kinds, and it is 

 therefore advisable that improvement in this class should 

 be confined to seed selection. American cottons have 

 already been introduced into Bassa, but the value of 

 the lint is lower than that of the indigenous kind. 



With regard to the cotton grown in the Ilorin Province, 

 the common variety is similar to that of the adjoining 

 country to the south, and it is in this direction that the 

 crop of the whole Province will be sent in the future, 

 as it has been arranged to remove the Ogudu ginnery 

 on the Niger, to which the northern Ilorin cotton has 

 hitherto been sent for sale. An illustration is given 

 showing the position of this ginnery upon the southern 

 bank of the Niger (Fig. 34). 



The most important insect pests which attack the 

 cotton plant in Northern Nigeria are three species of 

 Oxycarenus, or cotton-seed bugs : Dysdercus superstitio- 

 siis, a cotton-lint stainer, the American cotton boll-worm, 

 Chloridea obsoleta, and a species of E arias* identical with 

 or allied to the Egyptian cotton boll-worm. The last 

 mentioned has only been recorded as yet from the Bornu 

 Province, but the American boll-worm is found at Lokoja 

 and near the Niger in Nupe. The seed-bugs and stainer 

 are generally distributed. In no direction have these 

 pests assumed large proportions, but where they occur 

 the following remedies are recommended for application. 

 The seed-bugs and stainer can be attracted to traps of 



* Identical with what is termed E. biplaga at Ibadan, but probably 

 a local form of E. insulana. 



