44 COTTON-WOOL. 



Letter satisfv vour Honourable Court, that the local 



from Bombay, 



SO May 1812. causes that operate against the introduction into 

 the East-Indies of the better modes of cultivation, 

 which are practised in other countries, and in those 

 in particular where the labour of slaves is procur- 

 able, are insurmountable. 



44. The second Assistant then in charge of the 

 Commercial Residency at Surat submits it as his 

 opinion, that of the four musters, the bowed 

 Georgia cotton would appear to shew a decided 

 superiority, both in cleanness and colour, even 

 over the Company's thomil, with which your 

 Honourable Court have compared it, whilst the 

 Grenada and Bombay privilege cotton seemed of 

 nearly equal quality ; that any improvements which 

 could be introduced into the country, are not so 

 much in the immediate culture of the cotton- 

 shrub as in the after- processes of gathering and 

 cleaning the wool. The former, he observed, must 

 be drawn from actual experiments and observations 

 made in the country, but the latter required 

 only particular attention in the selection of the 



45. The dry soil and climate of Guzerat are 

 very favourable to the cotton-plant, for it is found 

 to grow in the most sterile districts, though less 

 luxuriously ; and the great demand and consequent 

 high prices given of late years, have contributed 

 much to the more extensive cultivation of the 

 commodity, particularly further to the northward. 



46. The 



