COTTON-WOOL. 



67 



from the want of a depth of good soil ; but such Letter from 

 deficiency of soil must always prove detrimental ii April isis. 

 to a plant which, like the Bourbon, does not arrive 

 at perfection for two or three years. Under this 

 unfavourable circumstance, added to exposure to 

 the hot winds, it is not likely ever to thrive in the 

 western districts, in such a manner as to supplant 

 the cultivation of the indigenous shrub. 



4. Mr. Gilder, therefore, very judiciously select- 

 ed a spot for his late experiment in the eastern 

 districts, between the Suburmutty and the Myhee, 

 where the greater portion of the soil is of a light 

 sandy nature, as recommended by the cultivators 

 in the Island of Bourbon, and where the general 

 division of the country into enclosures protects 

 the plant materially from the influence of the hot 

 winds and from the ravages of cattle, which appear 

 to be an almost insuperable objection to the culti- 

 vation of this shrub in the open country about 

 Broach. 



6. The cotton produced from twenty-seven be- 

 gahs, amounts to about 44|^ maunds of clean cotton, 

 and on examination at the presidency has been 

 reported by the native merchants " to be of excel- 

 " lent quality, that it is very much superior to the 

 " first and second thomil, and well adapted to the 

 " Europe market." 



7. Mr. Sollier, the Supra- cargo of the French 

 ship Bourbon, who is now in Bombay, and to 

 whose inspection the sample of cotton was sub- 



F 2 mitted, 



