plants reach vanity, and not taken everely from bulk of the whole crops. Reeds should also be praised for the variety which is already grown in the more southern districts of China. This variety might form a valuable kind and acceptable to the south if further improved by selection and cross &.
Influencing and Educating the Chinese. - It would be necessary to recognise in the first instance the great importance of skillfully and tactfully approaching the Chinese cultivators and winning them to the advantages which would accrue to them by substituting cotton to some extent for crops which they have for so long been accustomed to deal with, e.g., if cotton would be profitable, which can be formed only by obtaining and comparing figures. The Chinese very imperatively and unexceptionally require to be convinced only with the best arguments. I would therefore propose that if it should be decided to trial the Measure, it should be supplied with complete directions for the proposed new cultivation of cotton-growing in the country.
And these directions should be translated into their own language and freely distributed in due course; the directions should, if possible, be supplemented with personal explanation and supervision of work if the cultivation be taken up. Cultural directions should also be added showing the estimated costs of all operations and the market value at which produce could be disposed of.
The preparation of this work ought to be in the hands of some one well-informed and experienced in the principles of cultivation who would have facilities to gather and collate all the facts and figures required. Any trouble and expense in this work would in the end be far more than compensated for by the avoidance which it would secure of wasteful and extravagant expenditure in initial attempts, the failure of which would damp, as they would rarely clear away, the ardour or energy which might be, then, the realization of the wishes of the promoters. Errors arising from ignorance for want of knowledge would be very considerable and that this state of things does occur.
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