184142.] DR. WIGHT AND AMERICAN PLANTERS. 37 



Samples of the Cotton were sent home and reported on by CHAP. 

 Messrs. Tetley and Earle of Liverpool ; but no judgment - 1 _ 

 could be formed of the quality or value from the small sam- Parl Re _ 

 pies sent. The most important feature in the report of ^TiM*^ 

 Messrs. Tetley and Earle was, that none of the Cotton was 

 more cut, and some not cut so much, in the process of gin- 

 ning, as the average American supply. 



Dr. Wight's plan of operations: introduction of 44 

 American Culture more important than that of D r.wi g hfg 

 American Cotton. Meantime Dr. Wight seems to have 



arrived at the conclusion that the improvement of the Indian turn (is"?) 

 and Bourbon Cottons was of greater importance than the 

 introduction of American Cottons. Accordingly, during a 

 tour through the Cotton growing portions of the Coimbatore 

 district, he had entered into agreements with the Ryots. 

 On the one hand, he was to pay their rent and part of their 

 agricultural charges. On the other hand, they were to 

 cultivate their own Indian and Bourbon Cottons according 

 to the American system, and also to grow any American 

 Cotton seed which he might give them ; and at the same 

 time they were to give him one half of the crop, and the ' 

 refusal of the other half at market price. To carry these 

 arrangements into effect, he proposed to station the three 

 Planters at three distinct and pretty distant points, in order 

 that they might supervise the cultivation of the rented 

 lands. These propositions were approved by the Madras 

 Government, and at the commencement of the second season, 

 we shall see them in full operation.* 



Early trials of the American saw gin. Before the 45 

 close of the first season, the American saw gin, sent 



* This plan, as regarded the extension of the American Cotton and 

 cultivation amongst the Ryots, proved a failure. See Dr. Wight's remarks 

 upon this point at the close of the first period of four years cultivation in 

 Coimbatore, para, 84. 



