182 



Cultivation of Cotton in India. 



I find it enough to cut away merely the long straggling twisted soft 

 shoots with diminutive pods; and if this is done very early in June, the 

 better. But under all circumstances, the plant would yield a good pro- 

 duce from July to September, unless it should receive any damage from 

 rain in those months. In June, perhaps, if the soil allows, it is enough 

 to give the plantations a slight hoeing with the mamootis. In the old 

 plantations, nothing seems necessary to be attended to in the monsoon, 

 but draining them of the rain as much as may be practicable. 



I know not well how to answer the query refiavding the annual pro- 

 duce on any given quantity of land — at least with the precision and 

 satisfaction I would wish to do. It is a very speculative point, and 

 admits of wide limits of estimation. We may learn from books, 

 that from 200 to 300 pounds ofclean cotton are produced, and are ex- 

 pected, per acre in the West Indies and in America. Here some of 

 my dependants, to whom I have alloted small spots of land to grow it for 

 me in their way, think they perform wonders if they give me as much as 

 fifty the acre. This is obviously a matter mostly resolving itself into 

 the degree of judgment or diligence exercised in the cultivation, and no 

 less so perhaps in the suitableness of soil and situation. Speaking for 

 myself, I shall be very well content indeed to be sure of getting one 

 hundred pounds the acre of fine clean cotton ; and yet, adverting to ^he very 

 prolific nature of this species of cotton shrub, I can give no good reasons 

 why much more might not be expected. On this point, important as it 

 must be admitted to be, and on all considerations of expense, as com- 

 pared to the produce from any given measurement of land, I must con- 

 fess that with all my experience I yet feel an incompetency to impart any- 

 thing like precise and definite information. I cannot calculate my cotton 

 to cost me less in this country than twelve-pence the pound. The 

 freight is of course paid in England. But it is very obvious that if it 

 were within the possible labours of any individual to produce anything 

 in quantity that was material, the benefit would be abundantly hand- 

 some; but the ditfjculties to carrying it on on a large scale, cannot be 

 know^n to those who have not engaged actively in the undertaking. Tlie 

 natives can in nothing be trusted, as I have found to my serious loss. 

 But I will pass from these considerations to what is of much more im- 

 portance. 



The extract of a letter I lately received from my London agents, and 

 which I annex, may prove of great utility in pressing upon the at- 

 tention of your friend, the vast importance which is attached to the 

 process of cleaning. I have known, to my cost, how easily these things 

 may be overlooked : care to this department of the business must 



