846 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1904. 
SIR G. WATT ON COTTON IMPROVEMENT. 
At the rooms of the West India Committee, 
Seething-lane, Sir George Watt (Reporter on 
Economic Products to the Government of India) 
delivered a lecture on "Cotton Improvement." 
Sir Hubert E H Jekningiiam presided, and 
among those present were riir Alfied Moloney 
(Governor of Trinidad), Lady Moloney, Sir Nevile 
and Lady Lubbock, Sir H K Davson, Sir Charles 
Bruce, Sir Frederick Young, Sir Francis Fleming, 
Sir G. Birdwood and Mr A E Aspiuall (secretary). 
Sir George Watt briefly sketched the history 
of cotton, and of the Indian agricultural and 
manufacturing interests in the fibi-e. He ."itated 
that the Government of India had tried^ improve- 
ment of cotton by acclimatisation of the' triumphs 
of other countries for nearly a century. But the 
practical results of a century of acclimatisation 
had been remarkably little. On three different 
occasions experiments on a large scale were 
conducted, but, if anything, the quality of the 
Indian staple fell back rather than improved. On 
many occasions lie had upheld the opinion that by 
far the most rational find hopeful course would be 
to attempt improvement by natural selection in 
direct adaptation to local climatic and soil condi- 
tions. For this purpose the indigenous or long- 
acclimatised plants should l)e used preferably to 
freshly-imported stock. The poverty, however, of 
the Indian cultivators threw on the Government 
the entire responsibility of the requisite experi- 
ments, which, to be a success, would have to be 
simultaneously performed in each important cotton- 
growing centre, and conducted by trained experts. 
One of the foremost contentions which he desired 
to urge was the necessity for more accurate study 
of the cultivated and wild species of the Gossypium. 
We should not only be able to identify every form 
of cotton met with, but be in a position to say 
whether cottons proposed to be experimented 
upon in this or that country stood a reasonable 
chance of success. At present .a gross ignorance 
of the most ordinary particulars regarding the 
botany and history of the cottons prevailed. This 
state of afl'airs could not be remedied by herbarium 
work, A survey of the cotton area of the world 
would have to be personally conducted by one or 
two experts, followed by searching practical 
experiments, before we could be in a position to 
say that we kne^y anything of value regarding the 
cottons of the world. It seemed, however, faiily 
certain that Gossypium harbadense proper, the 
Sea Island cotton, if it were not an indigenous 
species of the West Indies* was at least a 
cultivated plant that, so far as we knew, came into 
existence there. It was the plant before all others, 
therefore, that should receive the attention of tlie 
West Indian planters.— London Times. 
PLANTING AND OTHER NOTES, 
Ceylon Para Rubber Prices. — Best 
Ceylon para rubber is beinj? highly valued 
by the brokers at home. We learn that} a 
lot uf fine biscuits from Putupaula estate 
were valued before the recent sales as high 
as 53 5d per lb. The sale, however, was a 
slack one and the top price offered was 
4s lid. at which the brokers let the rubber 
go ; other lots, valued at lower figures, were 
held back and in private sales later were 
disposed of at over the 5s. This speaks well 
for natural coagulation. 
The Tea and oher Indian Trade -is 
summarised in our usual compilation from 
the Indian trade returns, which are to 
hand. We direct special attention to this 
not only as the products referred to are 
of high interest to Ceylon growers, but 
also in view of the smartness of the issue 
of these figures, Tea, it will be seen, 
has increased from 181,423,518 lb. in 1902 3 
to 213.767,271 lb. in 1903-4 an increase of 
32,343,753 lb. of which 24 millions have gone 
to the U.K !-5i to China, IJ to Australia 
and 2 to Canada. From Ceylon the imports 
have decreased from 780,078 lb. to 433,365 lb. 
The Indian Tea AssociationIs Report. 
—The portions of this report which are of 
interest to our planting readers appear 
elsewhere. It will be seen that the Scheme 
for Scientific Work in the Tea Districts cost 
R27,000, of which the creditably small 
deficit of only R5,700 had to be made up by 
the Association— the rest coming from Dis- 
trict and other contributions. The cess of 
I pie per lb. has worked well and the 
Association is justly proud of its bonus of 
at first J an-anna and now 9 pies, which 
is benefiting the industry to an appreci- 
able extent. The Indian Association shows 
an extension of the acreage subscribing, by 
close on 10,000 acres : actually 9,323|, the 
total now being 368,530^ a very satisfactory 
advance. The income was R23,000, and there 
was a balance of over R4,000 at the close of 
the year, 
Ceylon Tea in 1903.— Messrs. Wilson 
Smithett & Co,'s Ceylon Tea Memoranda 
for 1903 contains many points— and more 
figures !— of interest to our planting readers. 
The unique fact that seven million lb. less 
Ceylon tea was drunk at home last year 
than in 1902 would be discouraging, but for 
the increased hold Ceylon is securing upon 
foreign markets. No doubt the home "Ceylon" 
proprietors would even prefer to see this 
reduced and their advice " to avoid large 
crops " was actually cabled out, not long ago. 
But it is probable that the increase in the duty 
will secure this result without any definite 
crop-reducing participation in it, from Ceylon 
As to the district averages— IJdapussellawa 
(8-80d) and Dimbula (8'60d) are 1st and 2nd, 
as last year, with •23d and •35d advance, 
respectively. Dikoya (8-30d) comes 3rd as 
againsth last 4t year (.7-50d)— a tine improve- 
ment ; while Bogawantalawa, 4th, (7'95d) was 
6th in 1902 (7-15d), Nuwara Eliya and Matu- 
rata, with figure (785d) unchanged, have 
sunk from 3rd to 5th, and Haputale with 
•60d advance is 6th— instead of 5th as in 1902. 
Of big estates Diyagama is easily first with 
9Jd (an advance of Hauteville (first) and 
St. Leonard's (second) have changed places, 
the former rising fd. In other groups, accord- 
ing to output— the following are magnificent, 
for whole-year averages : — Waverley, lOJd • 
Henfold, lOJd ; Portmore, lO^d ; Wanaraiah,' 
lOJd ; Di yanilakelle, lO^d ; Perhani, 10§iI ■ 
Goatfell, llfd ; Sutton, lOgd ; Mount Ver- 
non, lOfd ; Nutbourne, lOd ; St. Andrew's, 
lOd ; Battalgalla, lOd. Diyagama heads the 
output with 1,005,5001b— the only estate with 
over one million. 
