157 



CHAP. 

 V. 



CHAPTER V. 



DISPUTES BETWEEN DR. WIGHT AND MR. FINNIE, DISCUS- 

 SIONS OF THE MADEAS GOVERNMENT AND COURT OF 

 DIRECTORS, AND FINAL CLOSE OF THE EXPERI- 

 MENTAL CULTURE. 



1847 TO 1853. 



Marquis of Tweeddale succeeded by Sir Henry 210 

 Pottinger : breach between Dr, Wight and Mr. 

 Finnic. In 1849 the Cotton experiment in India under- 

 went a new phase. The Marquis of Tweeddale had retired 

 from the Government of Madras in 1848 ; and Sir Henry 

 Pottinger was now Governor of the Presidency. Meantime 

 the differences of opinion between Dr. Wight and Mr. Finnie 

 had broken out into an open rupture. This obsolete quarrel 

 between the Superintendent of the Cotton Farms, and an 

 American Planter originally engaged to act under his in- 

 structions, would of course be unworthy of notice, di(J it not 

 serve to illustrate the stage at which the Cotton experiment 

 had arrived. It will have been seen that the views, and the 

 mode of procedure, of Dr. Wight and Mr. Finnie, were dia- 

 metrically opposed. Dr. Wight had expressed his belief 

 that American Cotton might be profitably cultivated 

 throughout the Peninsula, excepting on the high table lands, 

 where the climate might prove too cold ; and accordingly he p a ra iso. 

 had been endeavouring to ascertain by actual experiments, 

 the principles of the cultivation of American Cotton under 

 the conditions of an Indian soil and climate, and the nature 

 and extent of the advantages possessed by the American gin 

 over the Indian churka. Mr. Finnie, on the contrary, had 

 expressed his belief that American Cotton could not be pro- 

 fitably grown in any part of India, excepting perhaps in such 

 isolated spots as enjoyed the benefit of both monsoons ; and 



