164 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [1848 49. 



CHAP, such Cotton as was ordinarily churkaed by the people. As 



' regards my proceedings in the cultivation of American 



Cotton, I have strictly adhered to the plans which I pro- 



Paras 127, posed in my letter of the 26th January 1846, to which you 

 made no objection. In deference however to your views, 

 and contrary to my own judgment, I recommended the es- 



Para. 203. tablishment of a Cotton plantation in May last, but did not 

 obtain the sanction of Government. How then can you say 

 that I stand aloof as a mere looker on, and that I do not 

 fulfil my obligations to serve the Madras Government as a 

 Cotton Planter ? I consider that the main object of my 

 mission here is, to improve the Native Cotton, and at the 

 same time to do what I can to introduce the exotic. In the 

 first, which is my primary purpose, I have been most suc- 

 cessful ; and I was told by the gentlemen of Tuticorin, that 

 more good Cotton had been there during the last season than 

 was ever known before. As regards the secondary subject 

 of the introduction of American Cotton into India, what 

 more can be wanted than to see the cultivation in the hands 

 of the Ryots ? I have agreed to pay them two Rupees (4s) 

 per month for each acre, during the- two or three months 

 that embrace the cultivating season ; and also to give them 

 two Rupees (4s) above the market per podhee of 240 Ibs. in 

 the seed, or five Rupees (10s) above the market price per 

 candy of 500 Ibs. of clean Cotton. If the business succeeds 

 in the hands of the Ryots, they will extend the culture ; if it 

 fails after a fair trial, then the experiment will be for ever set 

 at rest. As regards what 1 have done in the way of culti vat- 

 ing American Cotton, I may remark in the first place, that my 

 hope of producing a cross by mixing the American and 

 Native varieties, involves no very serious ground of dispute : 

 in all points where botany is concerned, I yield to your 

 superior knowledge. Secondly, I may remark that I have 

 planted the American Cotton in every possible way, but it 

 all looks wretched ; except some that is sown in Red land 



