. Indian cotton. Plioto by Kremner «.r The Ancient Persian Wheel. It is frequently asserted that cotton cultivation cannot beextended except by a reduction in the cultivation of food crops. Indealing with this charge at the Coimbatore meeting, I said :— We were told by the Right Hon. Viscount Morley of Black-burn, , when Secretary of State for India, that the extensionof cotton wrould interfere with the growing of food stuffs, butaccording to Government statistics the percentage of the grosscropped area of India was :— 26 INDIAN COTTON. Under Under food crops. fodder cent. Per ce
. Indian cotton. Plioto by Kremner «.r The Ancient Persian Wheel. It is frequently asserted that cotton cultivation cannot beextended except by a reduction in the cultivation of food crops. Indealing with this charge at the Coimbatore meeting, I said :— We were told by the Right Hon. Viscount Morley of Black-burn, , when Secretary of State for India, that the extensionof cotton wrould interfere with the growing of food stuffs, butaccording to Government statistics the percentage of the grosscropped area of India was :— 26 INDIAN COTTON. Under Under food crops. fodder cent. Per cent. 1901-02 79-17 .. 1-3 1911-12 79-66 .. 2-0 Total, food and fodder crops. 80-2 81-66 Under cotton. 4-5 I think that fear has now vanished ; besides cotton requires afood crop for a rotation. Although the ryot may not be able to eathis cotton, as one official kept telling me on my journey, yet it payshim well, and with the help of the splendid railways he can purchasehis food from other The Modern Persian Wheel, made almost entirely of iron ; albearings are ball bearings. th< Even in famine years India exports food stuffs. Of course, theman who owns only half an acre must in the first instance devote hisland to the raising of food crops. The cotton seed cakes, or better,the meal of these cakes, form, in all agricultural countries, an excellentcattle food which is not yet sufficiently used in India. The meal canbe conveniently packed in a small compass, and can be transportedexpeditiously by rail to famine-stricken districts when cotton seed cakes have found great favour in England and theUnited States, and one may justly look upon cotton more as a fodder-producing plant than as a fibre plant, seeing that the seed grains arethe heaviest portion of the crop. As I have pointed out, the villages are becoming less and less self-dependent. The cultivators grow that produce which pays thembest, and their surplus earnings buy the produce which
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcottonm, bookyear1915
