Norwich bulletin., 1915-05-17
One Result of the War.

One result of the war, in the opin-
lon of economists and manufacturers
at Petrograd, will be to emphasize the
value of Russia's native cotton crop
to her cotton manufacturing industries,
and there will certainly be renewed
efforts on the part of the government
to encourage the extension of the crop.
The Government already has plans
in hand for extensive developments in
this direction both in Russian Turkes-
ing the two principal cotton growing
districts.
In Turkestan, cotton growing is pos
s1ble only under irrigation, which is
supplied by a number of rivers flow
ing from the mountains into the
plains. Irrigation is said to have been
introduced here by the Chinese, in the
first century of the Christian era, and
some OF the old works are still in ex-
istence, The Governments plans for
futher development in this region in
clude extensive engineering works,
which would nearly double the area at
present available for cotton cultiya-
ton.
The area at present under cotton in
Russia is estimated at $4,000 acres.
The average yield is very high, being
given by one authority as not less than
300 pounds of lint per acre, as against
200 pounds in America and 100 pounds
in India. The best districts are said
to yield an average of about 450
pounds.
The development of cotton has been
fostered by the high import duty Of
nearly six cents a pound imposed up
pom imported cotton. The Russian
cotton growing districts are the most
northerly cotton growing areas in the
world, being five degrees further north
than tho limits of cotton growing in
the United States. The native cotton
is of rough staple, similar to Indian
cotton, but in Russia as in many other
parts of the world, the cotton famine
caused by the American civil war led
| to attempts to extend the cultivation
of the plant and to introduce foreign
varieties. Sea Island seed was the
| first tried, but proved unsuitable. Later
some trials were made with American
upland seed, which proved successful
1t soon became acclimatized, and was
| generally adopted wherever possible
on account of its superior quality and
| higher yield.
The increase in the Russian crop is
| the most important contribution to the
| world supply that has been made by
| any country in the world, with the pos
sible exception of China, during the
| present century. In the further de-
| velopment of new cotton areas, there
are two chief considerations, labor and
| transportation. The labor supply is
| already short and the deficiency must
presumably be supplied by encourag-
! ing immigration from other thickly
populated parts of the Russian Empire
The immigration is not likely to be
accomplished without difficulties, fol
Turkestan only became Russian about
| fifty years ago, and the mixed popula-
| ton still regard the Russian as ar
| alien conquering race.
| Better transportation facilities are
necessary, not only to bring the croI
| to market, but also to provide whea
! and other supplies for the increased
population. The basis for the neces
sary transportation is already in ex'
istence, however, both in Turkesta1
and Trans-Caucasia- The Russian
Government has developed a system o
railways, running east and ives
throughout Turkestan. linked up yitl
the Trans Siberian line. Trans-Cau
casia also has some excellent railways
with similar connection with the mali
! Russian system.
The cotton crop of 1914 in TurkeEtal
and TransCaucasia is said to hav
been the largest on record, amounting
to as much as 100000 bales. Price
have been maintained, owing t.
the difficulty of obtaining supplies from
abroad and the increased cost O
transport from importation points.