458 



[December, 1912. 



COTTON IN INDIA. 



The Bulletin oj the Imperial Institute for October last deals with this 

 subject and refers to the efforts made by the Department of Agriculture 

 to improve indigenous varieties of cotton and give a trial to exotic varie- 

 ties. An account is given of the examination and commercial valuation 

 of samples from Madras, The Central Provinces, Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam, and Burma. 



The comparative examination of the Uppam and Karunganni consti- 

 tuents of Tinnevelly cotton has shown that the former variety is of much 

 coarser staple than the latter, the average diameters being respectively 

 0-00084 in. and 0'00074 in. The Karunganni cotton is thus seen to approxi- 

 mate in fineness to Egyptian cotton, whilst the Uppam has the ordinary 

 coarse character of most Indian cottons. In other respects the sample of 

 Karunganni is little, if at all, superior to the Uppam. It appears, however, 

 from the information supplied by the Deputy Director of Agriculture in 

 Madras, that the growth of the Karunganni has been unfavourably affected 

 by the weather. The acclimatised " Cambodia " cotton is of very satisfac- 

 tory quality and indicates that it may be possible to grow successfully an 

 American type of cotton on an extensive scale in India. The "Georgia" 

 sample is of good quality but is inferior to the acclimatised Cambodia 

 cotton owing to the presence of stains. The results of this trial, how- 

 ever, fully justify a continuation of the experiment. 



The samples frcm the Akola Experimental Farm were of high grade 

 for Indian cotton. The chief defects were that they were of somewhat 

 inferior strength, and that they had been injured to some extent during 

 ginning, numerous gin-cut fibres being present in each sample. The 

 commercial experts who valued the samples received in 1911 reported 

 that with the exception of " cutchica " they were all of a much higher 

 class than "superfine," and were cleaner than any Indian cotton which 

 the firm had previously handled. Indian cultivators should be encour- 

 aged to grow cotton of the character of these samples in preference to the 

 inferior " jari" varieties which are now so largely produced. 



The chief cotton producad in the United Provinces is of an inferior 

 grade, known in the trade as "Bengals," and although experiments have 

 been made on the hybridisation of this cotton, and several crosses have 

 been obtained, which give promise of being a considerable improvement 

 on existing local varieties, there seems to be little hope of improving this 

 cotton to a sufficient extent. Probably the introduction of some form of 

 "Upland" cotton would be the solution of the difficulty. 



The only localities in East Bengal and Assam where cotton i3 commer- 

 cially grown are the Garo Hills and Chittagong Hill Tracts. In quality 

 the cotton (a variety of O. arboreum) was short and remarkably coarse 

 and rough. 



The Cuban, Georgia Upland, Cambodia and Bani cotton from Burma 

 were on the whole of very satisfactory quality, but with the exception of 

 the last they were rather lacking in strength and were slightly stained. 

 The stains were doubtless caused by insect pests, the presence of which 

 was clearly demonstrated by the condition of the seeds. It is therefore 



