28 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [17881813, 



CHAP. Early efforts to extend and improve Indian Cot- 



- ! ton. From an early period the Directors of the late Com- 



32 pany were naturally anxious that India should take a part 



Despatch in the supply of Cotton. In 1 788, during a temporary cairn 



of Court of J 



to ir oover- m P oll ^ ica ^ a nairs, the Directors ordered 500,000 Ibs. of the 

 ?ai r G !oth k es ^ Indian Cotton, and obtained reports from the Revenue 

 Reports 7 ' Collectors of the several Districts ;* but in the end only a 

 small quantity of very indifferent Cotton was obtained from 



Bombay. Still however the Directors were not disheartened ; 

 and in 1790, and for some years afterwards, Dr. Anderson 

 was engaged at Madras in distributing a variety of foreign 

 Cotton seeds, obtained from Malta and the Mauritius, 

 throughout the Peninsula of India. 



33 Introduction of Bourbon Cotton into the Madras 



Presidency. One important result followed Dr. Anderson's 



labours, namely, the introduction of Bourbon Cotton ; and 



this variety subsequently became naturalised in three South- 



ern Districts: viz. Tinnevelly, Salem, and Coimbatore. This 



success is in a great measure to be ascribed to the enterprise 



of a private merchant named Hughes, who resided in Tin- 



Memoirs. nevelly. Mr. Hughes seemed born with a genius for deve- 



turn.'(i847J loping the resources of a country. For a long time his Senna 



Personal was widely celebrated as the best in the world. His culti- 



knowledge 



from in a e u d - va ^ on ^ Bourbon Cotton was, however, a still greater 

 onfhe spot triumph ; and for more than twenty years " Hughes's Tin- 

 nevelly Cotton" continued to be quoted in the Liverpool 

 market as the best in India; and it was actually sold at 

 higher prices than the American short stapled Cottons, and 

 three pence per Ib. above the best Surats. 



34 Mr. Metcalfe, an American Cotton Cleaner, sent 



to the Presidency. 1813 : efforts of the Madras Go- 



Despatch 



from court vemment, 1819 1836. Meantime the Court of Direc- 



of Direc- 



rs ' IB?? tors were anxious to extend the cultivation of Cotton, and 



May 1813, 



Cotton Re- - - - -- - 

 ports (1836) * Extracts from these obsolete Reports may be found in the Appendix 

 P- 50 - to the Reports on Cotton "Wool, 18J6. 



