Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/152

 And now to reply to your queries seriatim —

1. The cotton plant is grown in this, the Etawah District.

2. There is only one kind of cotton now grown in this district, I enclose samples, in the boll and cleaned. The former may be taken as a fair specimen of the best average cotton here grown — the latter will enable you to judge how far the Churkha here in use injures the fibre. The quality of the produce depends very much on the soil and season and fully half of the Etawah cotton is (taking the average of several years) inferior to the enclosed sample — on the other hand about lo per cent, is superior.

3. No cotton of the American variety is grown here, nor would there appear to have ever been any vigorous efforts on a large scale to introduce its cultivation. Some few of the Zemindars seem to have tried a few acres of it some twenty- five years ago, but it took they allege so long to flower that the bolls never rightly came to maturity. I myself have sown it for three successive years without any success. I have so little time for gardening that I fear the cotton (though I saw it planted myself on the most approved form of ridge, and subsequently moulded and hilled) did not get properly looked after. Perhaps however the seed was in fault — the people here usually call the American variety "Nurma Kupas" or soft cotton.

4. Last year we had 57,675 acres of land under (cotton) cultivation and the produce amounted to 107,929 maunds or 8,634,320 lb., showing an average yield of only 150 lb. per acre ; but the rains were very defective, and I think I shall not be wrong in assuming 250 lb. as the average yield per acre, in a fair season, of our average good land.jwhen reason- ably carefully cultivated.

5. See No. 3.

6. Our soil varies in different parts of the district from very light sandy earth (" Bhoor " as it is here called) to a rich but still not clayey loam (known as " Do mut "). The climate is that of the rest of the districts of the central Duab — but perhaps a little warmer than some of its neigh- bours in January and February, cold at night and in mornings