viii 



REPORT ON 



Report. commendation from the President of the Board, 

 that further experiments in cultivation should be 

 instituted in different and distant parts of India, 

 under various circumstances of soil and climate, 

 and also in the modes of cleaning the cotton so 

 produced. 



Instructions were consequently sent to the Go- 

 vernments in India, directing their efforts to be 

 renewed, in the first instance, with the seeds of the 

 best of the indigenous plants of India, which would 

 occupy one season ; after which they were to be 

 supplied with foreign seeds, as well as with the 

 most approved machines for cleaning cotton used 

 in North America. 



Orders were likewise sent to Bombay, to ob- 

 tain, with as much despatch as possible, a supply 

 of Indian cotton fit for the general purposes of the 

 British manufacturer.* It was to be gathered and 

 prepared with the greatest attention ; and in order 

 to astertain whether the article suffered deteriora- 

 tion from pressure by iron screws, a portion of the 

 cotton was desired to be packed, experimentally, 

 in bales of the usual size, but to the density of 

 about 900 lbs. per ton of fifty feet ; so that, instead 

 of compressing 363 lbs. into each bale, it might 

 contain about 249 lbs. only. 



The 



* About 500 bales. 



