Dec. 2, 1901.J THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 393 
COTTON CULTIVATION. 
There are many obvious reasons why the 
cultivation of cotton in the island should be 
eacouraged and fostered by the Governntient ; 
and these reasons find forcible illustration in 
the Governor's Openincj Address to Council, 
though no direct mention is made of it. There 
is first the uudoubted fact that the increase of 
the revenue '• by leaps and bounds " is a thing 
of the past. If, with the presence of thousands 
of IBoers consuming dutiable articles which 
further pay for carriage by rail almost the 
whole length of ourRalway system and with 
tens of thousands of labourers engaged on the 
non-recurrent Public Works now in progress 
there is a backward tendency in the revenue, 
its maintenance at the figures to which we 
have been accustomed during the past few 
years is the most that can be expected. The 
probability is that there will be an appreci- 
able setback when " our guests " have taken 
their departure, both those who are here 
under compulsion, and those who have come 
to ns of their own free will. Another ele- 
ment which may re-act on the revenue is a 
diminished output of tea, whether as a means 
of helping up prices, or as the inevitable 
result of prices which cannot leave a margin 
of profit. But the unwisdom of placing all 
one's agricultural eggs in a single basket has 
been often preached, and occasionally ex- 
perienced, so every effort to give encourage- 
ment to the cultiv.ation of new products 
becomes a duty. The circumstances of 
the Colony do not favour the initiation 
of experiments with cotton by private enter- 
prise. The European capitalist has not the 
attractions of climate to draw him into 
the Northern Provinces where alone, or 
chiefly, the cultivation is likely to prove 
successful, even if his investments in the 
hill country do not call for his anxious and 
undivided attention at this particular 
juncture. The native capitalist is too con- 
servative to take the lead in experiments, 
though he is receptive enough of ideas, 
bearing on iip-country or low-country 
cultivations which have been proved to be 
remunerative. The Government should, 
therefore, take the initiative, both on 
general grounds of policy, and also because 
the Northern Extension is specially its 
own work, and, in the opinion of not a 
few, a risky venture. If it is wise, it will 
anticipate events, and make a vigorous 
effort to demonstrate the possibility of 
cultivating cotton successfully in the arid 
districts which the line is to traverse, before 
its completion. By such action it will, if 
successful, provide some traffic for a line 
which, at its start certainly, will not have 
much to carry ; while it may induce the 
settlement, in that part of the country, of 
precisely the classes of people who will best 
aid in its development— we mean the 
labourers and artisans from South India 
who have grown up iinder conditions which 
should attract, or at any rate, reconcile, 
them to the tank country. 
We have referred to the support which 
our suggestion derives from His Excellency's 
Speech. We have specially, in view the 
remarks on, the helpfulnesa to the export 
trade of the coconut industry, on the decrease 
in the cotton import trade under exceptional 
circumstances, on the evil influence on 
crime of the depression in various industries 
during the past twelve-month, on the effective 
equipment of the Botanical Department 
and the practical work whicli it has been 
able to accomplish, and on the attempts 
being made to encourage agriculture by 
means of (School Gardens. No systematised 
eirort has yet been put forth to enlist 
cotton among our regular prodiicts ; the 
more reason, perhaps, why Mr. Willis 
will throw himself into "the task of 
establishing the new product. Cotton may 
not be among the sort of plants which are 
to be grown in connection with village 
schools which, we suppose, will have to do 
chiefly with fruit culture and market- 
gardening ; but there is no reason why 
small plots in the Northern, North-Western 
and North-Central Provinces should not be 
devoted to cotton, ;xnd placed under the 
care of village schools. Mr. Drieberg's 
experience with cotton in the Agricultural 
School, though intermittent, should stand 
him in good stead in pressing on experi- 
ments. India is keeping its eyes wide 
open on cotton, as the following extract 
A writer in CajoitoZ remarks : — "I observe 
that the Chief Commissioner of Nagpur is devoting 
great attention to tlie improved cultivation of 
cotton in his district, and that he has been sending 
Mr R S Joshe, Superintendent of the Experimen- 
tal Farm, on a tour round tlie villages to converse 
with the cultivators regarding the most suitable 
land, the best kinds of seed, and the most improv- 
ed methods of raising the finer qualities of cotton. 
In promoting this educational work, the Chief 
Commissioner is laying the foundations of enduring 
agricultural "wealth in his province, and all other 
Commissioners in India ought to follow his 
example in reference to the chief products of the 
foil of their districts. Especially do my remarks 
apply to Lower Bengal, where the jute plant has 
been undergoing a slow process of deterioration 
during the last twenty years, and this season, 
although we have a bumper crop we have a 
'starved' fibre. And no wonder, for the ryots go 
on breeding in and in, year after year, from the 
seed raised on the same plots. Will we have to 
send tor a loan of the Chief Commissioner of 
Nagpur and the Superintendent of his Experimen- 
tal Farm to show the Bengal authorities how 
they ought to proceed ? There is an Experimental 
Farm over at Seebpore. Why not ask the able 
Superintendent there to go in at once for the 
culture of improved jute seed, and then send him 
round the jute districts to interview the ryots, 
and instruct) them as to to what they ought to do. 
The one thing to do is to get a beeinning made, 
and this ought to he done at once in preparation 
for the next seed time." 
Forest Department for the Malay States. 
— The Rangoon Gazette says that Mr. A M Burn- 
Murdoch, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Burma, 
has been deputed to tlie Federated Malay States 
to initiate a forest department there. This is a 
result of the report of Mr. H C Hill, Inspector 
General of Indian Forests, who recently visited 
the Federated States and reported on the con- 
duct of forest conservancy there and in the 
Straits Settlements,— Pera/u Pioneer^ Oct;. 22. 
