I believe, treated as ii it was so and crops in the method-described 
by the Javanese. In spite of the favour with which the “ Kapas 
Blanda” is viewed by these men, I should not be inclined to 
abandon “ Kala-ka!a " in favour of the imported variety unless a 
series of experiments proved the latter had the better commercial 
prospects. It must be remembered that there is a very great 
advantage as regards labour in having to deal with crops that do 
not suddenly necessitate a large temporary addition to the labour 
force on an estate. The cost of engaging one man for 1,000 days 
is ordinarily much less than the cost of engaging 1,000 men for one 
day, And if throughout the Federated Malay States all the plan- 
ters wanted this sudden increase in their labour force, simultan- 
eously, the possible result would be that the planters in their at- 
tempts to attract the available l< floating ” labour would have to pay 
such prices as would seriously affect the prospects of their enter- 
prise. In < ott on-girowing countries it would seem that during the 
“ picking season men, women and children, who at other times 
are unable to obtain a wage, are eagerly engaged at task-work rates 
which make their earnings, during the time they are employed, 
considerably higher than the normal wages of a first class labourer 
lor the same length of time. Even disregarding the question of 
cost, the nature of our population would seem to offer an overwhelm- 
ing obstacle to the general introduction of a form ot cultivation the 
success of which must to a great extent depend on the possibility 
of planters being able to engage simultaneously a large supply of 
“casual " labour. 
15, In regard to the general question of the desirability of a dry 
climate for growing cotton, it would appear that in the United 
States a very wet season is almost as much feared by the cotton 
growers as is a drought. Exceptionally wet weather is stated to 
produce weeds and tends to make the plant run to wood rather 
than crop. It seems to me to be possible to believe that even in 
the wettest years there is generally sufficient sunshine here to 
mature a crop of cotton. I know nothing of the climate of the 
cotton-growing districts of the United States, but would suggest 
that there is possibly an unusual lack of sunshine during the wet 
summers and that every hour of sunshine is of great importance 
when a plant has to bear fruit either on a certain date or not at all. 
After the opening of the boll I here is undoubtedly some danger of 
rain discolouring the cotton if left exposed to the weather. Vet I 
have now in my possession some beautifully clean white cotton that 
was purposely allowed to remain on the shrub during three days 
of heavy rain while the boll was open. When considering these 
sources of possible disappointment it is only reasonable to bear in 
mind that neither droughts nor gales (gales strip the shrubs of 
blossoms), which frequently cause immense losses to cotton 
growers in the United States, are likely ever to cause serious loss 
to planters in the Federated Malay States. 
16. It is not my intention to endeavour to prove that cotton 
growing would necessarily prove a highly remunerative form of 
