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



Farm at Coimbatore and to confine the agency to prac- 

 tical Planters, — in the two following paragraphs. 



223 1st, The Cotton Farm at Coimbatore may be relin- 

 quished : it has been proved that the right Cotton can 

 be grown, and the price alone remains to be ascer- 

 tained. — " We concur in your opinion of the expediency 

 of relinquishing the Government Cotton Farm at Co- 

 imbatore. We consider that the object for which this 

 Farm was established has now been fully attained, by 

 demonstrating that the soil and climate of that province 

 are capable of producing Cotton of a description in 

 every way suited to the wants of the English manu- 

 facturers. The point w^hich requires solution is, whe- 

 ther Cotton of this description can be produced at 

 such a cost as to enable it to compete successfully 

 with the Cotton of America in the home market. This 

 point can only be satisfactorily settled by leaving the 

 cultivation in the hands of the Byots : and not even 

 an approximation to it will be obtained, by carrying on 

 the cultivation at the expense of Government, and 

 under the superintendence of Government Officers. 

 The Government should, however, continue to afford 

 its aid by distributing American seed, either gratuitously 

 or at a trifling charge, to those willing to cultivate it ; 

 by authorizing the grant of small prizes for its success- 

 ful cultivation, as we observe you have already done ; 

 and by using all the means in your power to introduce 

 improved methods of cleaning the Cotton from the 

 seed, without injury to the staple." 



224 2nd, " Agency confined to practical planters" may- 

 be tried on a small scale. — " The ' Agency confined to 

 practical planters/ which you propose to substitute for 

 the Experimental Farms, is not clearly explained ; but 

 we gather from the Marquis of Tweeddale's minute of 

 the 11th December, 1847, that he would have ' small 

 establishments in each Cotton locality ; ' or, as he else- 

 where expresses it, ' small patches of land, as Model 

 Farms in the midst of the Native cultivation.' If the 

 object of this measure be to ascertain by actual experi- 

 ment, whether in any particular locality the soil and 

 climate are suited to the production of the American, 



