COTTON- WOOL. 



135 



cultivated in the same soil and in the same cli- Letter from the 



India Board 



mate, must necessarily be productive of no satis- to the chairs, 



^ 7 Oct. 1828. 



factory result. 



I must therefore suggest to you the expediency 

 of attempting, on a small scale, the cultivation of 

 all the finer sorts of foreign cotton in different 

 and distant parts of India, under every different 

 circumstance of soil and climate, and of transmit- 

 ting to England, cleaned in the American manner, 

 and with every precaution to protect them from the 

 weather, samples of the cotton so raised, for the 

 purpose of comparison with the cottons of other 

 countries. 



As it is understood that the value of cotton 

 depends very much upon the care with which it is 

 cleaned, and on its being protected from the wea- 

 ther, it is deserving of your consideration, M hether 

 it may not be advisable for the East-India Com- 

 pany to receive a portion of the land-tax in cotton 

 at a fair valuation, and to manage on its own 

 account the cleaning of the cotton so received, 

 and its transport to the place of shipment. Should 

 it be found practicable to raise in India any of the 

 superior sorts of cotton, it would be for the interest 

 of the East-India Company to encourage the 

 culture of such cotton, by taking it at a higher 

 valuation in the payment of the land-tax. 



I cannot entertain a doubt of the disposition of 

 the East-India Company to permit the residence 

 in the interior of India of British merchants, who 



may 



