56 



COTTON -WOOL. 



Letter the oatives, we make no doubt, will readily engage 



from Bombay, , 



17 April 1816. in the cultivation. 



65. The ryots seem but little disposed to culti- 

 vate the Bourbon cotton within this pergunnah, 

 which is, however, reported to be in other res- 

 pects unfavourable to the experiment, and we have 

 it not in contemplation to prosecute the cultiva- 

 tion, especially at the high price hitherto paid for 

 the transport of the seed from the Mauritius. 



90. The cultivation of the Bourbon cotton has 

 been also attempted within the Kaira jurisdiction. 

 Of 4,750 begahs that had been sown with the 

 seed, 2,186 begahs promised (report dated the 

 31st December last) to insure its successful intro- 

 duction, notwithstanding the disinclination which 

 the ryots manifested to undertake the experiment. 

 By a subsequent report, however, we have been 

 informed of a considerable failure having taken 

 place, and which is attributed to an essential 

 dilFerence in the nature of the Guzerat and Bour- 

 bon plants. The former, under the most favour- 

 able culture and season, never exceed tw o or three 

 feet in height, it has but few or no shoots or 

 branches, and a limited number of pods ; while 

 • the latter grows into a large shrub, greatly ex- 

 ceeding, even during the first season, the plant 

 indigenous to the country, expanding its branches 

 richly laden with cotton to a great distance around 

 it. The plant of Guzerat comes to its greatest 

 perfection and yields its cotton in the space of six 



months. 



