1849.] VIEWS OF SIR HENRY POTTINGER. 173 



2nd, " Agency confined to practical planters' ' may CHAP. 



be tried on a small scale. "The " Agency confined to ! 



" practical planters," which you propose to substitute for 

 " the Experimental Farms, is not clearly explained ; but we 

 " gather from the Marquis of Tweeddale's minute of the 

 " llth December 1847, that he would have " small establish- 

 " ments in each Cotton locality" ; or, as he elsewhere ex- 

 " presses it, " small patches of land, as Model Farms in the 

 " midst of the Native cultivation." If the object of this 

 " measure be to ascertain by actual experiment, whether in 

 " any particular locality the soil and climate are suited to 

 " the production of the American, or any other description 

 " of Cotton, we see no objection to its being tried on a small 

 " scale. It appears to us, however, that much information 

 " bearing on this point will be obtained, when the results 

 " of the experiments which you have authorized Dr. Wight 

 " to institute through the several Collectors of land revenue, 

 " with the view of ascertaining the most advantageous time 

 " for sowing American Cotton, shall be reported." 



VIEWS OF SIR HENRY POTTINGER. 



Minute of Sir Henry Pottinger, May 1849. Sir 225 

 Henry Pottinger arrived in Madras on the 7th April 1848. gir H 

 On the 15th July he penned a Minute upon the Cotton ex- JJSJ 111 ' 9 

 periment, which was chiefly confined to approving of Dr. j^ jJ{ 

 Wight's offering an enhanced price for New 'Orleans Cotton ^7 p . 

 grown in India ; and to sanctioning the establishment of* 97 ' 

 five small threshers and presses in different parts of Tinne- 

 velly and Madura for the use of Mr. Finnic. At the 

 same time, Sir Henry Pottinger expressed a confirmed 

 opinion that however satisfactory the apparent out-turn 

 of public agency might be, whether through Govern- 

 ment Farms or through purchases on behalf of Government, 

 that out-turn would form no criterion whereby to judge of 

 the future ; because the moment the public agency ceased, 



