90 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [1ST SEASON, 



Dec' 1847 already been exhibited in the second chap- 

 Pari.' Return ter. In the same way Mr. Finnie replied 

 169?^' P a * considerable length to certain queries 

 propounded by the Marquis of Tweeddale ; 

 and the results are accordingly condensed and arranged 

 in a similar form. 



ME. FINNIE' S "NOTES ON COTTON CULTIVATION 

 IN AMERICA AND INDIA." 



143 Early cultivation of Cotton in America : compared 

 with the present cultivation in India. — The earliest 

 Cotton cultivated in North America is 

 answers™ S supposed to have been brought from the 

 of the Mar Grecian Archipelago. It was first tried in 

 quis of " Virginia, but the season between the last 

 i6lhNov le ' frost of spring and the first frost of autumn 

 1847. Pari. was found to be too short to produce a profit- 

 OL857) j>. 178. a ^ e cro P- Still, however, it was raised for 

 domestic consumption, until a more favour- 

 able climate was discovered. Subsequently, the early 

 emigrants, journeying westward from Virginia to Ken- 

 tucky, carried the Cotton seed with them, but still 

 found the climate too severe. At last it was cultivated 

 with much success in the more southern province of 

 Tennessee, where the summer season was slightly 

 longer. In that early period the saw gin was un- 

 known. The seed was separated from the Cotton in a 

 more primitive way even than by the Indian churka, 

 for the American people employed no machine beyond 

 their own fingers. At that time the circumstances of 

 the American settlers were almost analogous to those 

 of the Indian Ryots ; for the work was done when the 

 people could employ their time in no other way. Dur- 

 ing the long winter evenings, and during bad weather, 

 when no out- door work could be performed, the Negro 

 men and children were engaged in separating the Cot- 

 ton from the seed, whilst the Negro women were em- 

 ployed in spinning and weaving the wool to clothe 

 themselves and the family. Gradually the gin was 



