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tional in Northern Nigeria during the past year. Yes, they 
were exceptional. The drought was more severe, I believe, 
than it had been before; but my remarks were in reference 
principally to the shedding of bolls and of buds which occurred 
during the wet season. During the dry season there was less 
shedding; the plants did not produce so many flowers during 
the dry season. If more rain had fallen during the dry season, 
then I believe there would have been a very good crop, and 
no one would have suspected that much shedding had occurred. 
However, the principal shedding took place during the wet 
season, not during the dry season. 
As regards Colonel Collens’s question as to the conditions 
of cotton growing in West Africa and the West Indies, I 
would reply that there is absolutely no comparison. In the 
West Indies we were working on cotton acclimatized to the 
country, a type of cotton with which we had specialized. We 
have been carrying on seed selection work in the West Indies 
for a good number of years, and have brought the cotton up 
to such a point that, as you have heard this morning from 
Mr. Sands, certain cotton is being sold for as much as 
3s. 4d. per lb. The cotton produced in Nigeria is being sold 
by the natives for 14d. per lb.; probably the lint would be 
worth about 7d. per lb., so that you will see there is very little 
comparison between the two as regards the cotton. 
Then, again, as regards the growers of the cotton there is 
no comparison. In the West Indies it is in the hands of the 
white man; out in Africa the white man has nothing whatever 
to do with it. It is a native crop that has been grown by the 
natives from time immemorial in order to manufacture cloth 
for themselves, and not with any idea whatever of putting it 
on the market. There is, therefore, absolutely no comparison 
between the cotton production in West Africa and the cotton 
production in the West Indies. 
COTTON CULTIVATION IN UGANDA. 
By SamMvuEL Simpson, B.Sc., 
Director of Agriculture, Uganda. 
[ ABSTRACT. | 
The Uganda Protectorate is the largest cotton-producing 
country in Africa with the exception of Egypt, and statistics 
are given showing the gradual development of the industry 
from 1904-5, when 180 cwt. valued at £236 were exported, to 
1913-14, when 99,924 cwt. valued at £317,689 were produced. 
Uganda cotton was formerly very mixed and dirty, and the 
efforts made to get rid of these defects are described. 
