1836-40.] EARLY EXPERIMENTAL CULTURE. 27 



district. In 1836, Dr. "Wight was appointed by the 

 Madras Government to report on the state of agricul- 

 ture in Southern India ; and he subsequently repre- 

 sented that the returns of Cotton per acre were 

 greater in Vizagapatam than in any other district. 

 But these early reports and proceedings are of small 

 importance, in the face of the large experiments which 

 were conducted through the agency of American 

 Planters, and which we shall now proceed to record. 



Ten American Planters sent to India, 1840. — In 35 

 1840, the Court of Directors engaged ten 

 Planters or Overseers from the Cotton Letter of the 

 States in North America, to instruct the i5th March, 

 Natives of India in the cultivation and R^turn"^^" 

 cleaning of Cotton. This measure was (i847),p. 2. 

 initiated with considerable difficulty. Cap- 

 tain Bayles of the Madras Army, who had been de- 

 puted to the Cotton States for the purpose, managed 

 to keep his secret for some time ; but after he had 

 engaged a few Planters, and purchased a sixty saw 

 gin, a model gin house, and other machinery, the ob- 

 ject of his mission eked out. The violent opposition 

 which he then had to encounter, compelled him to 

 carry arms, and to labour under the constant fear of 

 being forced to use them ; and the virulent attacks of 

 the press at Natchez, combined with a 

 sense of the lawless state of the com- ^^^y)^'.'™ 

 munity, and the urgent representation of 

 friends, induced him to retreat the moment he had 

 «ifected the objects of his journey. The Planters thus 

 engaged were each to receive £300 per annum, and a 

 gratuity in the event of success. Three were deputed 

 to the Madras Presidency, viz. Mr. Mor- 

 ris, Mr. Hawley, and Mr. Simpson; and (ll^)fp.'?o™ 

 about October, 1840, these gentlemen 

 reached their destination. 



Prevailing opinions upon Cotton Cultivation in the 36 

 Madras Presidency. — At this time it was 

 the general opinion that nothing was Si^iHrMt-' 

 wanting to promote the cultivation of "fs. 2nd 

 Bourbon Cotton but a remunerative price, parl' Return 



