146 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. Y. 



Pari. Return nor of the American gin to Indian Cotton. 

 (1857), p. 202. J shall simply explain what you have mis- 

 understood, and correct your erroneous views. You 

 now remark that the purchase of bazaar Cotton is pro- 

 hibited by the charter ; but in 1846 you recommended 

 the purchase of such Cotton as was ordinarily churkaed 

 by the people. As regards my proceedings in the cul- 

 tivation of American Cotton, I have strictly adhered 

 Paras. 127, to the plans which I proposed in my letter 

 131. of the 26th January, 1846, to which you 



made no objection. In deference however to your 

 views, and contrary to my own judgment, I recom- 

 Para 203 mended the establishment of a Cotton 

 plantation in May last, but did not obtain 

 the sanction of Government. How then can you say 

 that I stand aloof as a mere looker-on, and that I do 

 not fulfil my obligations to serve the Madras Govern- 

 ment as a Cotton Planter ? I consider that the main 

 object of my mission here is, to improve the Native 

 Cotton, and at the same time to do what I can to in- 

 troduce the exotic. In the first, which is my primary 

 purpose, I have been most successful ; and I was told 

 by the gentlemen of Tuticorin, that more good Cotton 

 had been there during the last season than was ever 

 known before. As regards the secondary subject of 

 the introduction of American Cotton into India, what 

 more can be wanted than to see the cultivation in the 

 hands of the Byots ? I have agreed to pay them two 

 rupees (4s.) per month for each acre, during the two 

 or three months that embrace the cultivating season ; 

 and also to give them two rupees (45.) above the 

 market per podhee of 240 lbs. in the seed, or five 

 rupees (10s.) above the market price per candy of 500 

 lbs. of clean Cotton, If the business succeeds in the 

 hands of the Byots, they will extend the culture ; if it 

 fails after a fair trial, then the experiment will be for 

 ever set at rest. As regards what I have done in the 

 way of cultivating American Cotton, I may remark in 

 the first place, that my hope of producing a cross by 

 mixing the American and Native varieties, involves no 

 very serious ground of dispute ; in all points where 



