COTTON-WOOL. 



103 



No. 49. 



Extract Letter from the Court of Directors to 

 the Governor in Council at Bombay, dated the 

 ISth February 1822. 



Par. 14. This letter is confined to the subject Letter 



Bombay, 



of the experiments which you have been making isFeb. 1822. 

 in the cultivation of the Bourbon cotton. You 

 have obtained statements, both from Mr. Gilder in 

 Kaira and from Mr. Hale in Mai wan, that the re- 

 sults of the cultivation which they had respectively 

 attempted on a small scale in the preceding sea- 

 son had been successful. There is also considera- 

 ble evidence afforded, that no want will be experi- 

 enced of a suitable soil and climate for raising this 

 commodity to a large extent. The excellence of 

 the quality seems to be established. 



15. In these circumstances, it is highly desirable 

 that the experiment should be prosecuted. It is 

 quite proper to ascertain to what degree the means 

 of cultivating it in the provinces of which you have 

 charge do really exist, and to proceed so far in ex- 

 hibiting the cultivation, as to make the people who 

 should engage in it fully acquainted with the whole 

 of the process, and also with the benefits to be de- 

 rived from it. But when the people are fully ac- 

 quainted with the mode of producing this, or any 

 other particular commodity, and with all the ad- 

 vantages to be derived from it, they should be left 



to 



