333: 
crop may be expected. This last year no rain fell during this 
period, and the crop obtained was most disappointing. 
[ Discusston. ] 
Mr. J. S. J. McCatz (Director of Agriculture, Nyasaland): 
With reference to the shedding of cotton bolls, we have the 
same trouble in Nyasaland which Mr. Thornton is at present 
experiencing in Nigeria. On our lower elevations the custom 
was to plant our cotton at the beginning of the rains, as 
Mr. Thornton does at present. One year when the rains 
slacked off towards the end we got a good crop; in another 
year when there was more rain we got a bad crop largely 
through boll shedding. After observing the habit of the 
crop and its behaviour, I induced several of the estates in 
this part of the country to postpone planting until the end 
of the rains; and now in Nyasaland, instead of planting our 
cotton on the lower levels in the month of November, we 
never plant before the last week of January or the second week 
in February, and the results have been most satisfactory. We 
now get regular crops every year. Mr. Thornton pointed out 
that the soil in his part of Nigeria is light and the cotton dies 
‘out. I might say in this connection that I have grown Nyasa- 
land cotton for the last four years in very light soil. I would 
recommend Mr. Thornton to try to select a plant which is 
able to survive, possessing drought-resisting properties, and 
he will find that he will be able to evolve from that a type of. 
cotton suitable for planting towards the end of the rains. In 
my case that system has been most successful. The disease 
he has mentioned no doubt accounts for a certain amount of 
shedding. For instance, I have seen considerable boll shed- 
ding in Texas, and also in Egypt and Ceylon, due to anthrac- 
nose. The plants get tall, and you therefore get a lot of 
shedding of the lower limbs because the sun does not penetrate 
there. I think myself that in evolving a suitable type of cotton 
I would lay special emphasis on trying as much as possible 
to reduce vegetative characteristics, as undoubtedly cotton in 
Africa as a whole is subjected to much heavier precipitation 
than cotton in its natural habitat, America. 
Mr. W. H. Himpury (British Cotton Growing Associa- 
tion): I have been greatly interested in listening to 
Mr. Thornton’s paper. Naturally, the British Cotton Growing 
Association look to Northern Nigeria for great things 
owing to its enormous area and large population. I would 
therefore like to ask Mr. Thornton if last season was 
not somewhat exceptional as regards climatic conditions? I 
believe they had a very severe drought throughout Northern 
Nigeria. I should also like to ask him over what period his 
planting experiments were carried out, as I am rather inclined 
