COTTON (TLTIVATlX AND Sl'l'l'LY. 



COTTON CULTIVATION AND SUPPLY. 



that Mr. Governor Hiuckes. writing from Barbados in tb.' present 

 vear T that than U an estate which, during the time* of slavery, 

 wT'w^Jdbjr 5S alare., and which wa. sold f-r 16,0001 Since 

 emancipation it ha. been worked by fro. labourer, and SO children 

 it has produced three time* the quantity of .ugar which 't former 

 did ; uS it wo Mid la* year for SO.OOOT II U true that this relate. 

 to a .ugar plantation ; but there U apparently nothing to prevent i 

 being equally applicable to one of cotton. 

 TTbe foreign West Indies do not call for much remark. Their cotton 



P But hdiaCoUo*. We now come to the country which, next to 

 the United States, attrncU mot attention on the part of cotton manu- 

 facturer* in thia country. To India they look for a relief from tne 

 commercial shackle* which bind them to the United States. 



Not only did the nativea of India cultivate cotton in times when no 

 Mich material wa as at all known in England ; but the amount of 

 produce was and still U really immense. They use woven cotton*, not 

 only for clothing, but for beds, cushions, awnings, draperies, hangings, 

 carpets, screens, curtains, tents, ropes, and numerous other articles. It 

 is utterly impossible to say how much is grown altogether, and there- 

 fore the estimates become very wide. Dr. White, in 1848, carried it up to 

 8000 million Ibs. annually ; but Mr. Ellison, in 1858, brought it down 

 to the more sober level of 1 800 million Ibs. As even the smaller of these 

 two estimates greatly exceeds the total quantity of all kind* imported 

 into Great Britain, the practical question arises, Why is there not more 

 East India cotton brought to England? The quantity has certainly 

 lintely increased, but stifl it bears no reasonable ratio to the increase in 

 the United States. In 1857 it reached 250 million Ibs., but in 1858 i 

 fell to 183 millions, the decrease being due almost wholly to the dis- 

 turbance occasioned by the mutiny. Even the highest of these quantities 

 U a very small percentage of the whole cotton produce in India. It pays 

 to export cotton from India to China ; why should it not pay still better 

 to send it to a country where it is so urgently needed as in England I 

 Between 1850 and 1857, tie price of East India cotton at Liver- 

 pool varied from Slrf. to Sid. per Ib. At a time when the price ranged 

 from Sid. to 51d., that of United States " uplands," of similar general 

 uualitv, ranged from 4|rf. to 7Jrf. The reason for this difference was, 

 that the East India cotton was so dirty that 16 oz. of fibre would only 

 yield 12 oz. of yarn; whereas an equal weight of " upland" would 

 "yield 131 oz. of yarn. The most recent estimate of cotton supply in 

 India is perhaps that which Dr. Forbes Watoon communicated to the 

 Society of Arts, in March, 1859 : " There is reason to believe that 

 from time immemorial the cotton plant has been grown in all parts of 

 India, and has always afforded suitable covering for the people of that 

 country ; not only does it serve for clothing, but it answers all the 

 several purposes for which flax, wool, hemp, and hair are employed in 

 this country. It may be, indeed, impossible to state the exact quantity 

 per annum thus consumed ; it has been variously estimated at from 

 5 Ib. to 20 Ib. per head for U)e whole population. If we assume 12 Ib. 

 as likely to be near the mark, we shall find that the present population 

 of India, calculated at 180,000,000, requires annually 2,160,000,000 Ib.; 

 and if we further adopt Dr. Royle's average of 100 Ib. as the yield of 

 native cotton per acre, we shall find that there cannot be less than 

 21 600 000 acres under cotton culture, exclusive of that which supplies 

 the present export of raw cotton. These on an average of the last 

 three years amounted to 272,000,000 Ib. (including the cotton sent to 

 China and all other places as well as to Britain) ; and this again 

 divided by 100, will add about 2,700,000 acres to the former quantity. 

 The total quantity of cotton grown in India, according to the above 

 calculation, will consequently amount to upwards of 2,432,000,000 Ib., 

 and demand for its culture certainly not less than 24,000,000 

 acres.** 



In seeking for the causes of the limited supply to England, and 

 of the bad reputation of East India cotton, with a view to the 

 adoption of remedial measures, the best authorities have drawn 

 attention to five circumstances, all of them very important. \\ o 

 will present the reasonings thereon in a condensed form. 1. Cartlett 

 Cultitation. The cotton-growers of India are very poor and very 

 ignorant. They have no capital to rest upon; no English manu- 

 facturers at hand to incite them; no good apparatus for cleaning 

 and preming cotton ; no protection from the roguery and oppression of 

 the native dealers, to whom they sell. Dr. Royle recommended, as a 

 wholesome stimulus, the settlement in the cotton-districts of Europeans, 

 or their properly instructed agents. The duty of these persons would 

 be to encourage the natives to grow their cotton with more can-, mi- 

 mixed with other and injurious crops; to teach how to pick it as 

 cleanly a possible off the boughs ; and to separate the seeds by the 

 best machines obtainable. Or the agent might be inutructed to pur- 

 chase the seed cotton (in the rough state, just as picked from the bush), 

 and clean it himself on the spot. Dr. Royle, a most competent autho- 

 rity urged that a small amount of money spent in this way would be 

 immensely beneficial, both to India and to England. 2. Ata* 

 Irri'iatio*. In the East Indies there is seldom more than 100 Ibs. of 

 cotton produced per acre, again* 400 Ibs. or upwards in the United 

 States. This deficiency U mainly due to imperfect irrigation. The 

 climate exhibit* many rapid extremes of heat and cold, wet and dry ; 

 and there are few of the cotton-flelds which do not suffer, either from 

 too much or too littie moisture. What u urgently needed if, draining 



of the wet land, and especially irrigation of the dry. There is a 

 general opinion that the Indian government would find it profitable to 

 execute works of irrigation, aince it would greatly increase the revenue 

 derived from land-tax the principal fiical nource in India. Much ban 

 been done in this direction within the last few years ; and much mor< 

 would have been done but for the recent excessive demands of the war- 

 department, which have exhausted the exchequer. This interrupt!"!) 

 of useful public works is much to be regretted ; for wherever irrigation 

 works have been constructed the benefit hai been great, both financially 

 and morally. A table compiled by Colonel Cotton enumerated thirty- 

 Lin- different works of irrigation which have been constructed in t lie 

 Madras presidency during fourteen yean, at an expense of 54.000/. ; 

 which have resulted in a total increase of revenue (after deducting dm 

 bunementa for repairs) to the amount of 70 per cent per annum on 

 the original outlay. The Jumna and Ganges irrigation canals hav, m 

 like manner been eminently useful. 3. Want of Raadt. The mode of 

 I. ringing the bales of cotton from the fields to the shipping ports u 

 most tedious and expensive, owing to the deficiency in good roads and 

 means of conveyance. Ox teams and clumsy vehicles are, at present, 

 almost the only available means. General Briggs, in evidence given 

 before the Cotton Supply Committee in 1848, said: " In the absence 

 of a defined and good road, a drove of several hundred head of catOi 

 requires to be constantly watched, and prevented from straying on 

 march; and this leads to the necessity of travelling by day in hot 

 weather, when the thermometer is seldom less than 100* Fahr. These 

 vdroves are seldom so few as 100, and often exceed 1000. Every 

 morning after breakfast each ox has to be loaded, and before tl 

 operation is over the sun is already high above the horizon, 

 cattle have then to proceed at the slow rate of two miles an hour, and 

 seldom perform a journey of more than eight or nine miles a day. 

 The herd generally halts one day in seven. If the caravan is overt! 

 by rain, the cotton, becoming saturated with moisture, is so heavy as 

 to prevent its transport on the cattie ; and the roads, if lying throug] 

 the [wet] ground, are BO deep that men even sink above their anklei 

 at every step, and cattle to their knees. It may be easily suppo* 

 that under such a calamity, the merchant and the carrier are both 

 ruined." The mode of shipping cotton at Baroach will illustrate or 



ruined. i ne mocie 01 snipping uuuiuu 



stage in thia very clumsy arrangement The bales are first rolled down 

 to the verge of the muddy shore, into which they sometimes plunge ; 

 each bale is then lifted on the shoulders of six men, who stagger up 

 to their knees, or even up to the waist, in mud, to the boat which is 

 to convey the cotton to the ship. Great results will follow from t 

 present construction of main trunk lines of railway through the heart 

 of India; but there must be good roads made from these railways t 

 the sea, and good quays at the shipping ports, before the difficulties < 

 transit can be overcome, 4. Tenure of Land. Enterpruung and momed 

 cotton-growers are deterred from speculating in India by the unsatis- 

 factory nature of the land-tenure. The government is the sole owner 

 of the soil. Estates are held conventionally, by a sort of tenant right. 

 The cultivators, who we have said are poor, have little inducement t 

 extend their operations, because they fear that any surplus would go to 

 the government in the shape of increased land-tax; the fear may n< 

 be well-founded, but it certainly prevails to a large extent among tie 

 natives. What seems to be wanted is, the introduction of freehold, 

 copyhold, or leasehold tenures, to give the cultivator both a pride and 

 a profit in an improved mode of husbandry. Mr. Ellison remarks : 

 ' If the East India Company would dispose of their lands, cither 11 

 perpetuity or for long periods of time, there is no doubt that not only 

 native but English capitalists would be found in plenty to urn 

 money in the same. The effect of such a proceeding would be, not 

 only an owning up of the resources of India, but it would also cauw 

 portion of the tide of emigration to be turned in that direction. 

 British energy and enterprise would then take the place of Indian ir 

 difference and lassitude, and soon double the present extent of our 

 commerce with Hindostan." 5. Apathy ofMaHiifartunrt. So long as 

 the English spinners and weavers can obtain fair profits for their cot 

 Rood* they care not whence the supply comes ; and thus it has been 

 found extremely difficult to bring them to act upon any one common 

 plan to improve and extend the sources of supply, \\hen, on the 

 other hand, profits are low, the manufacturers become alarmed, and 

 blame the government, with or without reason. Until the year 1 

 the supply kept ahead of the consumption. In the next six yt;i 

 demand exceeded the supply, lessening the stock in hand at Lii 

 from forty weeks' consumption in 1829, to fifteen weeks' consumpti. 

 in 1835 After this, owing to the encouragement afforded by lugl 

 prices, the supply gained on the demand for ten years, bringing the 

 reserve stock in 1845 up to thirty nine w^ks consumption, 

 consumption began again to get ahead o JI>I>ly, '" *,*"?* 

 manufacturers were uneasy. They appealed to the Last Ind a ' ..in- 

 panv, urging them to encourage the cotton cultivation in India Sir 

 James Hogg, on the part of the company, recapitulated what had been 



,!,.,. ,! mnu.i.ded the manufacture ... Mod Ori I MOP** 



agent to the East Indies, to examine into the whole question, and i 

 how far and in what way impn.u'.nenU might best b 



Handbook of the Cotton Tr.de,' 185S-tbomo.t recent and valuable work 

 on thi. .ubject. compiled from autheniio oBcial document, tngli.h .nd 

 Amrln. wVhm much plcwure In acknowledging our obligation, to Mr. 

 Elllion'* volume. 



