A preliminary note on the factors controlling the ginning percent of Indian cottons

Abstract

THE cotton crop, as it is harvested, consists of the lint in which the seed is embedded. This seed-cotton is then ginned, by which process the seed and lint are separated. The gim:ing percent of a cotton, as the term is here used, may be defined as the nmnber of pounds of lint obtained fi'om 100 lbs. of seed-cotton. Now the area under a given crop is largely controlled by the price the actual cultivator receives for his produce. In the ease of cotton, the cultivator parts with the seed-cotton for which the price paid by the purchaser is ahnost directly proportional to the ginning percent as determined by sampling 1. The character, which forms the subject of the present note, is, consequently, one of great economic importance, and for this reason has formed the basis of a considerable series of experiments. From the scientific aspect the problem is an attempt to resolve a complex character into its simpler component factors. The range of variation found in the ginning percent of the different types of cotton at present cultivated may be usefillly indicated. In the crop at present in general cultivation in the United Provinces--consisting of a mixture of various types of G. neglectum To&---the ginning percent is 30--33. Improved forms, isolated by selection, are now being introduced for which this figure approaches 41. Races of G. cernuum Tod. have been cultivated in which the g~nning percent is as high as 44 or 45. At the other extreme lie G. indic~m Lamk. and G. arboreum Linn. sp. P1. with a gqmdng percent of 25--26, the former giving the Bani cotton of Central India, perhaps the best indigenous cotton of India, and