COTTON-WOOL. 



137 



have been matter of o^reat satisfaction if our endea- Letter 



^ to Bombay, 



vours had been attended with success. is Feb. 1829, 



2. This failure has not been owing to want of 

 co-operation on the part of our Governments, sup- 

 plies of cotton-seed having been imported into 

 India, and land granted to Europeans for experi- 

 mental cultivation; but the experiments, upon a 

 scale of commercial usefulness, have been confined 

 to the Bourbon species; and the cultivation of 

 this kind, which we understand is of the black- 

 seed description, and yields a longer staple than 

 any other kind of cotton, has been checked, by 

 the unexpected difficulty of finding a market for 

 the increasing supply of long and silky cotton. 

 As to the former supply of this cotton, there has 

 been added, since the year 1823, the growth of 

 Egypt to a considerable extent, and of other 

 places, which has produced an important change 

 in the relative value of the green-seed and black- 

 seed kinds ; and at the present time, the stock of 

 black-seed cotton on hand bears a much larger 

 proportion to the consumption than the green 

 American description. 



3. The native cultivators do not appear to have 

 given any, or at best very little attention to the 

 improvement of their cotton, On the contrary, 

 limiting our present observations to the pro- 

 duce of your presidency, the late consignments 

 of cotton to England are represented to be almost 

 entirely deficient of every property which is 



esteemed 



