54 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [4tH. SEASON, 



CHAP. Soondah : unfavorable from the presence of " Kun- 



'. kur." Mr. Simpson considered that the soil of Soondah 



' ' was on the whole unfavourable ; there being in its compo- 

 sition too much disentegrated laterite rock, called by the 

 Natives " Kunkur." Some lands, however, were free from 

 this objection, and might yield remunerative crops. 



78 Soopah : soil favorable but climate unfavora- 

 ble. In the Soopah talook, Mr. Simpson thought that 

 some of the land about Mundgood and Hullial was favour- 

 able to the growth of Cotton ; but such lands, he said, 

 could not be easily obtained ; and the few that were avail- 

 able were covered with such immense tufts of grass, that 

 they could not be easily prepared. Moreover the climate 

 during the period of culture, viz., from August to the end of 

 March, was not favourable, as a cold wind prevailed which 

 would probably prove injurious to young plants. A climate 

 to suit Cotton ought, in his opinion, to be quiet, moist, and 

 moderately warm. Again, the labouring people in the dis- 

 trict were chiefly emigrants, who came up from the country 

 on special contracts and then returned home. Altogether 

 he doubted whether Cotton would grow in Soopah. The 

 talook, it was true, bordered on the Cotton growing district 

 of Dharwar, yet it differed both in climate and soil ; and 

 that part of the Dharwar district which adjoined the Soo- 

 pah and Soondah talooks for some miles inward, was not 

 under Cotton culture, as the Natives considered that the 

 soil partook too much of the nature of the Soondah country. 



79 Mr. Simpson's opinion on the failure of the Coim- 

 batore Farms to extend the culture of American 

 Cotton. Mr. Simpson next discussed the general question. 

 Assuming that the ulterior object of the experiment was ta 

 introduce the American seed and machinery amongst the 

 Ryots, he considered that operations should be commenced 

 in some of the known Cotton growing districts in the Ma- 



