FAMED DACCA 



GOSSYPIUM 



IMPROVEMENT 

 OF STOCK 



The fibre 

 very short 



calculated 

 co- 1 



site seems to be tin- Im/h hanks of the Ganges and its tributaries. 



<.t tin- oxtlviiH'lv lino, sill init tlm -t ;l |,l,, is 



iiiul tin- u-niil ailhi<r'H most tenaciously to the seed. It IB a<l 



I'm- ti ; im- of the muslins .HI, I t hinnor fabrirK. It in perhap 



it pnnluctii'ii t.) enter largely into mir manufacture*. Tucker then adds that the 



bwjha hupas is the ordinary cotton staple of Bengal proper. 



.irgh. who was appointed Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens Daoc* Cotton. 

 < uttu in IT'.'H. early gave attention to this special Dacca < <>vlo. 



Cult, dint <'n,,nn. Cotton, 245). He gives, in his F lorn Imlirn, the points of difference 

 the ordinary Bengal and the special Dacca cotton. The plant, he says, 

 e erect, has fewer branches, and the lobes of the loaves more pointed. The 

 \\ h >]. plant is tinged with red, even the petioles and nerves of the leaves, and it is 

 less pubescent. The peduncles of the flowers are longer and the exterior margins 

 <>f the petals are tinged with red. The staple is longer, much finer, and softer. 

 K<i\l>urgh's MS. plate of the plant thus distinguished is in the herbarium of the 

 Knyal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta (a copy of which is in Kew, and has been 

 reproduced \<y me in the Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World, pi. TJ). 

 it manifesto all the special peculiarities mentioned, and thus doubtless faithfully 

 represents the plant ; but Roxburgh adds that the people of Dacca think the 

 groat difference lies in the spinning and allow little for the influence of the soil. 

 {See remarks on Hand-loom, p. 616.) 



It has recently been affirmed that the cotton formerly used by the Dacca Mualin Industry. 

 manufacturers, of the far-famed exceedingly fine muslins of that city, was de- 

 rived from tree cottons. Further, that the loss of these special crops caused the 

 decadence of the muslin industry. Taylor's account (Topog. and Stat. Dacca, 

 1840) would seem to give a complete refutation of that statement. Moreover, the 

 question may be asked, " Is it or is it not a fact that with an exceedingly short 

 4 >le the Dacca manufacturers are still producing (or until very recently were 

 producing) muslins, which if not up to the old standards, are certainly far finer 

 than could be manufactured from these staples by any process or machine known 



*to Europe or America to-day ? Taylor says, " The material of which the fine Dacca 

 muslins are made, is entirely the produce of the district. The plant is an anuual 

 one, and attains a height of about five feet. It is described by Roxburgh as a 

 variety of the G. iei'6reim. and is said to differ from the common cotton Differences, 

 plant of Bengal in the following particulars : (1) The branches are more erect 

 and fewer, and the lobes of the leaves more pointed. (2) The whole of the 

 plant is tinged of a reddish colour, even the petioles and nerves of the leaves 

 are less pubescent. (3) The peduncles, which support the flowers, are longer 

 and the exterior margins of the petals are tinged with red. (4) The staple of 

 the cotton is longer, much finer and softer." This is the deal or indigenous 

 cotton of the district, which has been cultivated in the northern division from 

 time immemorial. 



" Formerly, when this article was more extensively cultivated than at present, 

 there were different shades of quality observable in the staple, which either 

 cannot now be distinguished or have degenerated into one of an inferior degree. 

 They were known by the names of Phootee, Nurmah and Bairaite. The cotton 

 of the present day, it is affirmed by the Natives, is inferior to what it formerly 

 was. The crops are less abundant ; it is said that the fibres, though apparently 

 equally fine and soft, are shorter and more firmly adherent to the seed, than 

 the produce of former years. The Dacca cotton, however, notwithstanding the 

 deterioration imputed to it, still ranks as an article of finer quality than the 



I produce of other parts of Bengal or of the western provinces." ..." The seeds, .Selection of 

 which are used for sowing, are carefully picked, and after having been dried in 8eed< 

 the sun are preserved in an earthen pot in which oil or ghi has been kept, and 

 the vessel with its mouth stopped up, so as to exclude the external air, is hung up 

 to the roof of the hut, and over the spot where the fire is usually kindled. The 

 high lands are selected for this crop and are ploughed from eight to twelve times 

 up to September and October when the seeds are sown. This is done in parallel 

 rows, distant about a cubit from each other, and before the seeds are dropped 

 into the ground they are moistened with water. The cotton plant is liable to 

 injury from hail-storms, heavy rain and caterpillars." ..." Formerly the 

 ground for cotton was allowed to lie fallow every fourth year, and it appeared 

 to be owing to the neglect of this circumstance in the present day, that the 

 produce is now inferior in quality to that of former times." 



" The cotton of the northern division is said to swell less than the produce 



595 



