COTTOX-WOOL. 



45 



46. Tne cotton-seed at Surat, which is all ot the Letter 



7 7 7 7 - 7 • n • 1 Ml 1 T ^^^^^ Bombay, 



black kind, is sown amiually in drills, at the dis- 30Mayi8i2. 

 tance of about one foot between each plant, after 

 the first rain (say in July), the ground having been 

 previously well cleaned and all the roots of the 

 former crop carefully grubbed out, after which it 

 arrives at maturity without any further care. 

 Ground which has been one year in fallow is 

 always found to produce more abundantly. 



47. There are three o;atherino;s of cotton in one 

 season. The first commences from the middle to 

 the end of February, and yields always the finest 

 wool, being the pods taken from the tops of the 

 shrubs; the second, fifteen days later, is inferior ; 

 and the third inferior to the second, and is pulled 

 from the lower part of the bush. 



48. We have particularly to point out to your 

 Honourable Court the seventh and eighth para- 

 graphs of the letter under consideration, as speci- 

 fying the rude and imperfect means used here for 

 cleaning cotton. 



49. We are informed by Mr. Forbes that the 

 cotton-wool is separated from the seed by a hand- 

 machine, called chirkJiaw^ not unlike a gin. This 

 process, he believes, is not of much injury to the 

 staple. Two men are employed in working a 

 chirkhaw, and seldom clean more than half or 

 three-quarters of a maund per day. 



50. The succeeding process of bowing, switch- 

 ing, or beating the cotton, to free it from leaves, 



dirt, 



