264 



Indian cotton, and the fabrics spun therefrom, out 

 of the European markets. 



Whether we have to attribute the rapid develop- 

 ment of American cotton-culture entirely to the 

 superiority of the staple, or to the advantages of a soil 

 recovered fresh from nature's hands, or in a greater 

 degree to the energy of European enterprize, is 

 difficult to say, but I am of opinion that, if India's 

 soil had been cultivated by Europeans for the same 

 period as American soil has been, the quality of its 

 cotton would have now surpassed the American 

 staple in the same ratio as it is the reverse. 



The filaments of the East Indian cotton, as 

 grown at present and known in the markets of the 

 world as u Dhollera" and " Surats," are consider- 

 ably shorter than those of the American variety, 

 and as, therefore, only the coarser descriptions of 

 yarn and cloths can be spun from them, they realize 

 comparatively poor prices. East Indian cotton, 

 however, is valued for its color and noted for its 

 strength ; but its chief defects, as reported upon 

 in England, are the dirty state of the staple, the 

 admixture of impurities, and the wilful adulte- 

 rations that are practised. 



The causes of these defects we must attribute 

 to the ignorance and poverty, as also to the apathy 

 and indifference, of the Indian ryot. For, as he is 

 obliged to sell his crop, very often before it is ripe, 

 in order to pay the land-tax and defray the 



