COTTON 183 



able. The extent and regularity of the foreign demand 

 for Indian cotton will therefore depend upon the 

 proportion of that which is of the desired quality to 

 that which is not required. It is also obvious that the 

 best product may be sent in such a bad state to the 

 market that its value will be greatly depreciated, and a 

 prejudice against its regular employment will arise and 

 persist. Indian cotton has always been held to possess 

 the good qualities of colour, a high facility for taking 

 some dyes better than American cotton, and for its 

 thread-swelling in the process of bleaching, so that the 

 cloth made from it becomes more substantial in appear- 

 ance. To show the minute attention which was paid by 

 the people of India to the cotton employed in calicoes and 

 muslin, it is recorded, as long ago as 1789, that the 

 general distinction in quality that the natives make is 

 whether the thread made from any cotton swells or not 

 in the bleaching. Most of the Indian cotton has one 

 great defect, that is shortness of staple, which, although 

 it can be twisted and spun between the fingers, may yet 

 be blown away during the various processes of machine 

 spinning; hence it has been found that the waste in using 

 Surat cotton is 25 per cent., whilst from the American 

 the loss is 12^ per cent. ; and also the same machinery 

 produces a larger quantity of yarn from the American 

 than from the Surat cotton, and this is attributed to the 

 more brittle character of the latter. An improvement of 

 10 to 25 per cent, in the quality of Indian cotton was 

 considered necessary before its consumption would be 

 materially increased. One reason for the small amount 

 of waste in the American cotton was that most of it 

 could be used for purposes of inferior spinning, while 

 of the Surat a large portion cannot be worked into 

 inferior articles. The shortness in the staple of the 

 predominant classes of Indian cotton is undoubtedly the 

 chief factor against its introduction into general use ; 

 but another chief cause is the dirty state in which it 

 reaches the manufacturer, this condition being dependent 

 on the careless manner in which it is collected and stored 

 and to the fraudulent admixture made to it after purchase 

 from the growers. All the evidence which has been 



