[December, 1012. 



CAMBODIA COTTON EXPERIMENTS IN THE 



BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. 



The Agricultural Journal of India lor October, 1912, publishes a paper 

 by T. F. Maiu, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Bombay Presidency, 

 from which we take the following extracts :— 



The first point which required investigation was the suitability or 

 adaptability of this cotton to local conditions. Experimental cultivation 

 during the last three years has proved that this cotton is well adapted 

 for cultivation at Gadag as may be inferred from the results obtained 

 at Gadag in comparative experiments with local saw-ginned Dharwar 

 American herewith tabulated : — 



Season. 



Yield per acre seed 

 cotton in lbs. 



Ginning Percentage. 



Remarks. 



Cambodia. 



Saw-ginned 

 Dharwar 

 American. 



Cambodia. 



Saw-ginned 

 Dharwar 

 American. 



1909-10 



430 



384 



42-80 



30-87 





1910-11 



410 5 



221 



38-30 



30-70 



A moderate season 



1911-12 



197 



101 



38-05 



28-30 



A very bad season 



The importance of these results lies not only in the relatively heavier 

 yield and higher ginning percentages of this cotton, but also in proof 

 which they provide that Cambodia cotton is a drought-resisting variety 

 of exceptional capacity. The most striking instance of this was offered 

 in the season of 1911-12 which was characterised by the worst drought 

 experienced for many years. 



The next point which had to be cleared up was, which of the various 

 Cambodias was the best. Comparative experiments leave little doubt 

 on this point for No. 102-E., received originally from Mr. Aiyer of Ti ichi- 

 nopoly, has annually proved its superiority over all other both as 

 regards yielding capacity and ginning percentage. 



Having shown the suitability of Cambodia cotton for cultivation in 

 the south-east of the Dharwar District it may be convenient to sum- 

 marise here its advantages which have been found over local saw-ginned 

 Dharwar American. These are : — 



(1,) A higher ginning percentage of at least 7 per cent. The ginning 

 percentage of saw-ginned Dharwar is normally about 30 per cent., while 

 a very moderate sample of (102-E) Cambodia gins at 37 per cent, and 

 good samples gin from 1 to 2 points higher. The highest ginning per- 

 centage attained by this cotton on the Gadag l-^arm was 42'8 in 1909-10 



(2.) A higher yield in the proportion of at lease 9 to 8. 



(3.) The seed cotton being produced in large well-opening bolls can 

 be picked cleaner. 



