166 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [€HAP. Y. 



of obtaining from India a supply of Cotton suited to 

 the requirements of the English manufacturers. 

 240 Dr. Wight's services to be retained: Mr. Finnie's 

 dispensed with. — The Court of Directors then ordered 

 that the Coimbatore Farms should, if not too late, be 

 cultivated according to the plans laid down by Dr. 

 Wight ; and that at the close of the season, both the 

 lands, and the machines and implements, should be 

 delivered over at a fair valuation to any company of 

 Merchants and Planters who might offer to continue 

 the experiment. As regarded Dr. Wight, they con- 

 sidered that before giving up the superintendence of 

 the Cotton experiments, he should be called upon to 

 furnish a clear and connected account of the experi- 

 mental cultivation on the Coimbatore Farms, and in 

 other parts of the Madras Presidency ; together with 

 such observations as his scientific and practical know- 

 ledge might enable him to supply as to the causes of 

 success or failure. Such a report, they said, could not 

 fail to be a useful document, as a guide for those who 

 might be hereafter engaged in similar undertakings. 

 As regarded leaving future operations in the hands of 

 the Collectors, the Directors remarked that little could 

 be accomplished by those officers, unless the latter 

 could look to some properly qualified officer to direct 

 their proceedings, and to digest and methodize such 

 results as might be obtained. Again, considerable 

 advantage w r as to be expected from the experiments 

 which had been in progress under the superintendence 

 of Dr. Wight throughout the Presidency, with the 

 view of acertaining the most suitable time in the year 

 for sowing the American seed ; and such experiments 

 would be of little avail, unless the officer, by whose 

 suggestions they had been undertaken, should be in a 

 position to examine and report on these results, aided 

 by his own extensive experience in the practical cul- 

 tivation of Cotton in other localities. Accordingly, 

 the Directors expressed their opinion, that Dr. Wight 

 should retain the position of Superintendent of Cotton 

 Experiments under the Madras Presidency, until these 

 objects were accomplished ; but at the same time they 



