322 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 



charging an interest of 36 per cent, on a number of small 

 loans. *Nay, it is said, in eight cases out of ten, at the be- 

 ginning of the season, both "the seed and his own subsist- 

 ence are advanced to him till the period of harvest ; conse- 

 quently, when the crop is reaped, it does not belong to the 

 cultivator, but is seized by these usurers, whose exactions, 

 with those of the zemindar, would soon crush him altoge- 

 ther, were it not necessary for their own interest to stop 

 short of his entire ruin. 



It has been already observed, that the penury of the agri- 

 cultural classes is less conspicuous in Guzerat, which both 

 Mr. Forbes and Mr. Elphinstone describe as the most flou- 

 rishing province of India. It seems to owe this advantage 

 to its great fertility, joined to its retired and insular situa- 

 tion, which preserved it both from a thorough subjection to 

 Mogul despotism, and from the ravages of the Mahratta 

 invaders. 



Rice is in India the staff of life, being used to a greater 

 extent than any grain in Europe. It is, in fact, the food 

 of the highest and the lowest,— the principal harvest of 

 every climate. Its production, generally speaking, is only 

 limited by the means of irrigation, which is essential to its 

 growth. The ground is prepared in March and April ; the 

 seed is sown in May and reaped in August. If circum- 

 stances are favourable there are other harvests, one between 

 July and November, another between January and April. 

 These also sometimes consist of rice ; but more commonly 

 of other grain, pulse, or cotton. In Guzerat some species 

 of holcus are raised to a considerable extent. 



Cotton, as constituting the material of the principal 

 manufacture in India, ranks next in importance to its staple 

 grain. Yet its quality, by no means corresponding to its 

 great importance, is decidedly inferior to that of North 

 America and Brazil. It is described as a different species 

 from the produce of the United States ; being an annual 

 plant, while the other endures for ten or twelve years. The 

 English dealers undervalue it as short-stapled and dirty ; 

 for which reason they use it only in " very low cloth," or to 

 mix in small portions with that of a better description. It 

 usually brinjrs about two-thirds of the price of ordinary, 

 and one-third of the bcsl American cotton. An ardent de- 

 sire to improve this valuable shrub seems now to be gener- 



