1842.] Nurma or Chanderi Cotton. J 189 



the same subject, which 1 requested the Lieut. Col. to transmit to you ; 

 I mentioned at the same time, that I could refer to Captain Abbott, 

 Assistant in Nimar, for additional information, as the cotton used in 

 the Chanderi fabrics was stated to come from Nimar, and the question 

 was more interesting to that part of the country, as it affected a staple 

 article of its commerce, than to Malwa generally, in .which cotton 

 does not appear to succeed, and is but partially grown. 



2d. I have now the honor to submit copy of a valuable report, which 

 I received from Captain Abbott, and of its accompanying letter, from 

 which it will be seen, that the cotton formerly exported to Chanderi is 

 called Mahalie, and not Nurma, which indeed, as before pointed out by 

 me, is not an annual, but a large plant, which lasts about ten years. 



3d. During the last rainy season, I planted a patch of ground in 

 my garden with the Nurma cotton, from which when ripe, I intend 

 sending the specimen together with those of the soil in which itgrow3, 

 promised in my letter of the 1st November 1841, to Mr. Bushby. 



4th. I may add, that I have lately procured from the Agricultural 

 Society in Calcutta, a supply of the Georgian cotton seed, which I am 

 distributing among the different states in Malwa and Nimar. 



5th. In closing my letter on the subject of these cottons, I need 

 scarcely remind Government, after Sir John Malcolm's copious report 

 on Central India, of the richness of Malwa, and its adjoining provinces 

 in productions important to commerce. The interest which that distin- 

 guished officer attached to them, induced him, from his first arrival in 

 the country, to bestow an attention to their investigation worthy of the 

 Government which he represented, and the results of which were 

 found to be such, as to obtain for him the acknowledgments of 

 learned Societies. Since his time, the subject would appear to have been 

 entirely neglected, which cannot but be regarded as a misfortune to a 

 country in which we hold so prominent a position, as to impose in my 

 humble opinion an obligation on us to develope its resources, and from 

 which we derive a revenue averaging at least twenty lacs of rupees per 

 annum, collected on the spot at an insignificant expense. A renewal of 

 these researches would, however, be of little practical benefit to the 

 country, unless the means of communication with other marts were 

 simultaneously improved. Government has done something to promote 

 the object by entertaining the project of improving the road between 



