cotton, and every thing else was neglected by the starving cultivators, who were intent only,
on procuring food enough to maintain life.
So general a failure in the first experiment has proved most unfortunate, as it has tended to
damp enterprise and destroy that hope of better success in after trials which would have resulted
from success, however partial, in the first attempt, and seems to have put an almost entire stop to
the further prosecution of these experiments, in which, by the way, the natives never seemed to
take much interest, partly perhaps through apathy, but more probably, because they were frightened
at the anticipated additional trouble and expense without seeing any very certain prospect of
adequate remuneration. This was more to be regretted, as success can scarcely be anticipated
where the parties engaged in rather expensive and troublesome experiments have no direct interest
in the result. The civil establishment could have none,and though they were, from their better
knowledge of the advantages likely to accrue to the country from success, most willing and
anxious to promote the introduction of the new kinds, yet being hampered by the strictness of the
regulations of the service, were prevented aiding and stimulating to the extent that might have
been required, native efforts for its attainment, added to which, was the uncertainty existing, on
the part of the growers in the interior, of finding a ready market for an article less esteemed by
the native manufacturer than their own short stapled but strong cotton, in the manufacture of
.which, long practice had conferred perfect facility. Impediments such as these are not to be
overcome unless by persons who are really interested in the result, who can devote much of their
time to the superintendence of the cultivation, can at all times command a ready market for their
produce, and lastly, who have a considerable amount of capital to invest in the business.
The mere distribution of seed to ryots will not accomplish these ends in their present state of
ignorance, poverty, and depression, for they at once say, the cost of ploughing and preparing the
ground is so much, suppose this new seed is bad, or the plants do not thrive, or I do not know the
proper seasons to sow, and gather in the harvest, who is to pay me for my lost time and labour,
or to provide that proportion of support, for myself and family, that I would have derived from a
crop of our. own, less valuable it may be, but yet well known cotton, which I know how to cultivate,
and which long experience informs me will not disappoint my expectation. This I cannot,
say for yours, since I never saw it. growing, and as I am a poor man with a large family, I dare
not engage in speculative experiments.
That such is the true source of aversion on the part of the natives to engage in these new
Linds of cultivation,* and neither apathy nor indifference to their own interests, of which they
have a keen perception, is rendered evident by the fact, that in those districts, Salem, Tinnevel-
ly, and Coimbatoor, where the cultivation of Bourbon cotton has taken firm root under the superintendence
of European Merchants, the natives cultivate it of their own accord, as readily or
nearly so, as the indigenous country cotton, well knowing, that the crops of it are as certain as
those of the other, and the demand for it equal if not greater. The American, short stapled
cottons can be cultivated as easily and with equal certainty of success in these districts, but are
actually discouraged, though they succeed well, as being more troublesome and expensive to clean,
and much less valuable, both as an article of export commerce, and for domestic consumption
among themselves, than the Bourbon cotton.
These instances, though the only ones I know, of unquestionable success on a large scale,
prove indubitably the existence, in the Southern provinces of the Peninsula of India, of a soil
and climate favourable for the production of these, in Europe, more esteemed varieties, and go
;far I think to show that if they, have not succeeded elsewhere, that it is mainly for want of the
proper encouragement being held out to the only persons qualified to cultivate them at a cheap
rate, the native cultivators ; which, on this side of India, maybe fairly attributed to the want of
European speculators, possessed of sufficient capital and enterprise to give the necessary impulse ;
as it is through European enterprise alone, that success has been attained to the extent here
stated. In this conviction I am farther confirmed, from the result of experiments I have had in
progress during the last twelve months, on too small a scale, it is true, to admit of any very certain
conclusions being deduced, but still, such as to convince me, that with no other care than
they receive in field cultivation, that both the Bourbon and short stapled American cottons may
be successfully cultivated in our common alluvial soils, but more profitably in the red ones, which
are largely charged with the red oxide of iron. The long stapled or sea island cotton has not
succeeded with me, not because the plants themselves have been more delicate or less adapted to
our climate than the others, but because they are subject to the attacks of an insect, which deposits
its eggs in the young fruit, causing blight and destruction of the produce long before it
attains maturity.
The Pernambuco variety (Gossypium acuminatum) promises to succeed better, and being a
strong growing shrub producing a very long stapled cotton, may prove a very useful addition to
our stock.
It appears from the facts adduced, that the soil and climate of this portion of India, are far
from unfavourable to the growth of the foreign varieties of the cotton plant, and equally that
they produce cotton of good quality, but whether equal to that of American growth I am unable
to say. Mr. Fischer of Salem, the Principal Cultivator on this side of India has altogether discontinued
cultivating it, not on account of the inferiority of its produce, but because it is greatly
inferior as an article of commerce to the Bourbon variety and much more troublesome and
expensive to clean and fit for the market, and then, does not fetch so high a price by nearly 50
percent. But though that is the case in the ferruginous soils of Salem, it does not follow
that it would prove equally so in other districts where the soil is entirely alluvial and argillaceous,
since in such soils, my experiments have led to the conclusion that the American short
staples are more productive, and answer upon the whole better, than the Bourbon, while, from
the rapidity with which they come to maturity, they are as susceptible, as the indigenous
sorts, of being cultivated as an annual, which, in the opinion of the natives, might be
thought an advantage.
Having I trust satisfactorily shown that in the southern provinces of India, the American short
stapled cottons can be cultivated with equal ease and certainty, under the same course of treatment
as the indigenous kind, it only remains to ascertain whether the produce is intrinsically equal in
value, or in other words whether fabrics manufactured from it possess the recommendation of
wearing equally well. On this point I confess myself unable to afford any satisfactory information.
The belief of the natives as above stated is adverse to the supposition that the American cotton
is equal in that respect to the Indian, but their conviction is formed from comparing imported
European cloth, with native fabrics, which I do not consider fair subjects of comparison, in as
much as India was, in the first instance and for along time after, supplied with old cloths*the refuse
of European warehouses, which had been deteriorated by long keeping and more or less by
the processes employed in bleaching in Europe to which Indian cloths are not subjected. The
result of my own experience, as well as of several others with whom I have conversed on the
subject, is in favour of the supposition, that European cloth is fully equal to Indian, and I have
no hesitation in adding, that native cloth which I have had made up to express order, and of the
most costly quality, did not wear nearly so well as European cloth purchased 100 per cent,
cheaper from the boxes of strolling hawkers. From this. 1 infer American cotton grown in its
own country, is at least equal to Indian, but whether when grown in India it retains its good
qualities, remains to be determined, on that point I am unable to give any precise information
and for the present leave the matter as I found it sub-judice.
The fact, of Bourbon cotton of Indian growth, having sold in the London market for the
highest prices going, and I believe I may safely add, always 100 per cent higher than the native
cottons or 4 Surats’ leaves no room to doubt its excellence, and some specimens of cloth fabricated
from that kind have been acknowledged, in this country, to be of the first quality.
While thus endeavouring to the utmost to introduce new varieties it must not be overlooked,
however much of the native partiality in favour of the indigenous cotton we may attribute to
prejudice, that, notwithstanding it is generally badly prepared and dirty, it bears a fair and steady
price m the English market, and is in constant demand for mixing with the American kinds
thus proving almost to demonstration, that in the estimation of the English manufacturer it
possesses valuable properties, and even leads to the inference, that we might be more usefully employed
in directing our energies to its improvement, than in devoting so much labour and capital
to the introduction of an exotic, only adapted for successful culture on particular kinds of
tands, and these well suited for other kinds of cultivation, while it is less, or not at all fitted for
culture on the Black soils, especially adapted for the production of the indigenous sorts, which
on the other hand, are not so well adapted for the general purposes of agriculture. Could then
anything be done to improve the quality and marketable value of the Indian cotton ?