May 1861.] 



Proceedings. 



185 



Cotton you this morning sent me, has been examined, and I have 

 much pleasure in sending you the following particulars respecting 

 it. The Cotton is of good quality and of fair color, though slight- 

 ly stained. The Fibre is woolly, but the staple good, although 

 much shorter than the Cotton grown in Egypt. The demand for 

 this description of Cotton is limited, as it is principally used in 

 the manufacture of the finer numbers of yarn say 80s. to 100s. 



The last quotations we have received for Egyptian Cotton are 

 7d. to 8|d. for ordinary and middling and 9| to lid. per lb. for 

 good and fine. The Sample you sent is valued about 6d. to 6£ 

 per lb. The Imports of Egyptian Cotton into the United King- 

 dom amounted in 1860 to 110,007 bales. 



Believe me, 

 Yours sincerely, 



C. A. Ainslie. 



Madras, 5th April, 1861. 



Two Samples grown at Chingleput were also produced along 

 with the following letter from Dr. Short and the Report of Mr 

 Ainslie. 



Chingleput, ISth April, 1861. 

 To the Secretary to the Agricultural and 



Horticultural Society of Madras. 



Sin, — I have the honor to forward Samples of Cotton grown at 

 Chingleput, and beg to request that you will be pleased to lay the 

 same before your Society. 



No. 1, is that of Cotton grown in Betel Gardens on Nunjah or 

 wet land, where the soil is a loam, the plant being cultivated with 

 the object of giving shade and support to the Betal vine. I can- 

 not clearly trace how long this Cotton has been cultivated by 

 Betel growers. I have traced it at least, to the beginning of the 

 present century, and as the plant cannot be indigenous to South- 

 ern India, its similarity to the Egyptian Cotton, leads me to be- 

 lieve that it may be the same introduced by Dr. Anderson in 1790, 

 under the name of Bourbon Cotton, and in 1793, Dr Roxburgh 

 stated that it thrived better at Coromandel than at Bengal. Vide 

 Dr. Royle's " Reproductive Resources of India," 1840, Page 340. 



