April, 1912.] 



309 



Mores. 



lint prove remunerative to the grower. 

 At present they do not, except under 

 the very special conditions to be noted 

 later. It will be gathered from the 

 statement below that, if we were to 

 deal directly with Lancashire instead 

 of disposing of the lint locally, the price 

 realised for our short-stapled cotton 

 relative to that of middling American, 

 would be even higher than the trade 

 pays for it here, and that to substitute 

 a long-stapled cotton for it, would under 

 these circumstances prove still less re- 

 munerative for the cultivator. By ex- 

 porting his cotton to Lancashire he 

 would, under the most favourable condi- 

 tions, get about 33 per cent, more from 

 a long-stapled cotton such as bani than 

 for his short- stapled rosea; but the 

 outturn of lint of the latter would, on 

 the other hand, exceed that of the 

 former by about 117 per cent., so that, 

 if he were to grow and export bani 

 at present prices, it would be at a 

 comparatively heavy loss. 



Valuation of lint per lb. in December, 

 1910, by— 



a 



-» 



as 



'u 



03 



> 



Si M 



A CO i 



all 



i & £ a 



Rosea 6-49d. 7d. 



Malvensis 7*42d. 8'20d. 



Buri ... 8'67d. 7-90d.-8d. 



Bani ... 8'81d. 8-40d. 



O <x> 



■«'13 



1-3 



a o 

 5 s 



T3 o3 



« 

 6 75d. 

 7*75d.-8d. 

 8d.-8'25d. 

 8d.-8-25d. 



The purchaser pays the same price 

 for the lint of pure rosea as for that 

 of the Berar jari or katevilayti now 

 grown over nearly all the cotton tract ; 

 but rosea gives a ginning percentage 

 of 39, while in the statement below, 

 kindly supplied by the Manager, Em- 

 press Mills, Nagpur, it will be seen that 

 for Berar jari the percentage for the 

 past three years has been about 35 only ; 

 so that rosea will give 10 per cent, more 

 lint than the mixture at present grown. 



Ginning percentages obtained 

 at Factories. 



1908 09. 1909-10. 1909 11. 

 Veotmal ... 35-17 34-16 33-85 

 Alkola .... 35-00 35*43 34'38 

 Amraoti ... — 35-71 3540 

 Nagpur ... 35-07 35-77 3465 

 Wardha ... 34-33 35*10 34 29 



Rosea is a hardy variety and therefore 

 suffers less than others from the vicis- 

 situdes of the climate and the cracking 

 of our black cotton soil ; it is the earliest, 

 too, of all the races grown, and its 

 seed gives the highest germinating 

 percentage. It is capable of great im- 

 provement in its ginning percentage by 

 plant-to-plant selection. The selected 

 strain which is now being propagated on 

 the seed farms has given an average 

 of 40"3 per cent, of lint. If it were 

 possible to substitute rosea for the 

 katevilayti now grown, the higher ginning 

 percentage alone would in normal years 

 result in an increase in the Central 

 Provinces and Berar of 51,000,000 lbs. of 

 lint. We believe that this is possible, 

 and that to effect it merely requires time 

 and organisation, as the cultivators 

 everywhere are clamouring for the seed. 



At present prices there is no possibility 

 of growing bani, except at a comparative 

 loss, owing to its low ginning percentage. 

 An effort has been made to raise it by 

 selection, and one strain has been im- 

 proved to the extent that it gives 29 per 

 cent, of lint, but even at that it is hope- 

 less to think of growing it at a profit. 



Rosea cutchica is slightly inferior in 

 the quality of its staple to rosea, and 

 gives from 2 to 3 per cent, less lint. 



Malvensis and vera give about the 

 same outturn of lint, which is nearly 

 equal in quality to that of bani- There 

 is a great variation in the quality and 

 percentage of lint of different strains of 

 malvensis, and it is therefore believed 

 that there is much scope for that reason 

 for its further improvement. 



At present prices it pays to grow buri 

 in fields where deshi cotton is subject to 

 wilt disease, and this is being done. 

 Many cultivators who have tried it have 

 found that it pays, too, when grown in 

 the well-manured khari soil found near 

 the villages. In the rice tract, where the 

 rainfall is high, it has done distinctly 

 better than deshi cotton. 



Plant-to-plant selection of all these 

 different cottons has been carried on 

 continuously during the last five years, 

 and all the seed sown on the experimental 



