98 



and in the West Indies, were sent to India, and a 

 gentleman, who resided for some years in Georgia 

 and New Orleans, was deputed to superintend the 

 working of them ; several American planters were 

 employed for instructing and superintending the 

 cultivation, and large prizes were offered for the best 

 samples of cotton, of good growth and cleaned by 

 machinery, not less in quantity than 300 bales. 



The reports, however, of some of the superintendents 

 of the cotton farms, and, of all the American Planters, 

 were unfavourable to the introduction of the 

 American cotton, to which they considered the 

 climate and soil of India generally unsuitable. 

 But, they did not attempt to adapt their system to 

 either the one or the other, and seemed to forget 

 that in India, we have every description of climate, 

 and almost every description of soil, the capabi- 

 lities of many of which e. g. Assam, Cachar, the 

 Valleys of tbe Himalayas, arid many parts of the 

 Sea-board, were then little known. There is cer- 

 tainly such abundant evidence in these very reports, 

 and the reports from cotton brokers on the cotton 

 raised at that time and during previous experiments, in 

 proof of the fitness of certain lands in India for grow- 

 ing superior cotton, both from foreign and indigenous 

 seed, that little doubt remains on my mind that, were 

 the same experiments vigorously undertaken, with 

 present experience, care bestowed on the selection 

 of localities, attention directed to irrigation and an 



