Sept. 1906.] 



231 



FIBRES. 



Cotton in Ceylon. 



By J. C. Willis. 

 As soon as the North country of Ceylon began to be opened up by the new 

 railway, the question came up of what products might be commercially cultivated 

 in it, and among these cotton, which was already grown in small quantities on 

 chenas, naturally took the first place. Going on leave in 1902 I interviewed the 

 chief officials of the newly-founded British Cotton Growing Association, aud went 

 over the cotton districts cf Texas, etc.. to get all possible information, and on 

 my return Government agreed to open an Experiment Station in the North- 

 Central Province. After some consideration this was done at Maha-iluppalama, 

 aud cotton seed from America (West Indian Sea Island and Uplands cotton) 

 and Egypt (Egyptian) were sown there in the North-East monsoon of 1904. 



The crop was gathered during the first six months of last year and ginned, 

 and was baled and despatched to Lancashire early this year. The results were that 

 two bales Sea Islands sold at Is. two at lOd. a lb., while of the 13 bales of Egyptian 

 cotton, 7 sold at M. to %d. per lb., 2 at 8id. per lb., 2 at 8d. per lb- , and 2 at 7|d. per lb. 



Leaving out of account the salary of Superintendent, and cost of opening the 

 land, the return shows a fair profit, being for Sea Island Rs. 87 per acre, for Egyptian 

 Rs. 7125, while the cost (weeding for 8 months at Rs. 5, planting Rs. 3, picking and 

 ginning Rs. 2) was about Rs. 45. The profit may thus be about Rs. 40 per acre, or 

 even more on land not requiring so much or so expensive weeding, so that 100 acres 

 should provide a fair salary for a Superintendent aud anything over that should 

 yield a profit beside, even in the very expensive North-Central Province. 



The great thing to be attended to, however, if the quality of the crop is to 

 be kept up, is selection of seed, which is dealt with in this month's leading article. 



It is impossible to buy selected seed of Sea island cotton, and this crop was 

 grown from ordinary West Iudian seed, the crop from which it was obtained having 

 sold for Is. 2d. or more, so that deterioration is evident in the very first generation. 

 Thanks to continual selection, the quality of the West Indian Sea Islands cotton 

 is rising, and has even reached Is. 8d. a pound, so that now almost any seed from 

 there is comparatively good, but its offspring will not remain so without regular 

 selection. 



