217 



CHAPTER 



PRESENT CONDITION OF THE COTTON CULTURE IN THE 



SEVERAL DISTRICTS OF THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY, 



185362. 



Stage of the Cotton Experiment, 1853-62. The ef- 288 



forts on the part of the Madras Government to introduce 

 American Cotton and American machinery into the Mad- 

 ras Presidency, virtually closed with the departure of 

 Dr. Wight from India in 1853. Since that period, some 

 experiments in the growth of American Cotton have been 

 carried out by private individuals, and may be said to have 

 confirmed the general results worked out by Dr. Wight ; 

 namely, that under the conditions set forth in the preceding 

 pages the foreign plant may be successfully cultivated, and a 

 staple produced far superior to that appertaining to the 

 Indian plant. But the question of whether this better sta- 

 pled Cotton can be grown with profit to the cultivator, seems 

 as far from solution as ever. Before however offering any 

 comment upon these results, it is advisable to take a 

 general survey of the present condition of the Cotton culti- 

 vation in the several Districts of the Madras Presidency. 



Survey of the present Cotton cultivation in the 289 

 Madras Presidency. In carrying out the review thus 

 indicated, it will be advisable to proceed with each District 

 separately, according to the geographical distribution of 

 the several Collectorates already set forth at para 9, viz : 

 1st, Northern Circars ; 2nd, Eastern Plain ; 3rd, Central 

 Table Land ; and 4th, Western Strip. The materials for 

 this survey have been selected from a mass of official reports 

 and other documents, which it is not thought expedient to 



print in extenso. 



D 1 



