COTTON-WOOL. 



423 



as a good portion of the imports of 181 7 to 1S26 con- Appendix. 



sisted of (that is, good, clean, bright-coloured, thomil 



cotton), would always find a consumption to a certain 



extent; which, of course, would be increased if the staple 



could be a little improved by the introduction of seed 



from America, particularly from. New Orleans. The 



best quality of the Bombay cottons have always been 



considered to be the Broach and the Surat, which in good 



seasons are equal in staples to middling bowed Georgia. 



But the cargoes from Bombay, which have been arriving 



for the last twelve to eighteen months, have, from their 



almost entire want of every property estimated by the 



British manufacturer, been the cause of many of those 



who were previously in the habit of using Surat cotton 



turning their backs upon it ; and it can only be by a very 



great improvement, particularly in cleanness, that they 



can be expected to return to it. It appears to me, that 



the cause of the depreciation is principally owing to the 



very slovenly way in which the crop is gathered from the 



plant ; and without a thorough reform in that particular, 



it will be of little use introducing new seed, or increasing 



the expense of cultivation in other respects. If the crop 



be carefully gathered when in a proper state of maturity, 



agreeably to the instructions in my observations for the 



benefit of the Brazil planters, it will require comparatively 



little other cleaning, beyond freeing it from the seed by the 



American gin, in its most improved state. 



