1837.] Transactions of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India. 1G5 



seldom cost me more than ten rupees a maund, including balance and 

 establishment. The contracts being for the first produce of the fields, 

 it secured me cotton of a most superior quality at a cheap rate. I was 

 obliged, however, to abandon the system altogether when the govern- 

 ment assessment was raised. As the zemindars and ryots became im- 

 poverished, so the risk of balances increased, and rendered the specula- 

 tion precarious. As long as landed property remained valuable, the 

 security of the zemindars was considered safe, but they are so poor 

 now, that advances made upon such security would be hazardous." 



This is followed by two short communications on Egyptian cotton by 

 Messrs. Gibson and Bell. The experiments of Mr. Gibson for its intro- 

 duction had in a great measure failed, from the extreme wetness of the 

 season, but, at the time of writing, the experiment could not by any 

 means be considered as brought to a close, so that no conclusion can 

 yet be deduced from it. The same may be said of Mr. Bell's remarks, 

 except in so far as they show what liberties in the way of transplanting 

 may be taken with it, some plants having twice undergone the ordeal, 

 the last time when full grown and covered with pods, apparently with- 

 out inflicting the slightest injury, but rather with benefit, as Mr. Bell 

 says, " I remark that all the pods which have been latest in coming to 

 maturity are the largest and best." He concludes by giving it as his 

 opinion, that, if attended to, Egyptian cotton will not only flourish, but 

 yield abundant returns throughout India, and recommends its being 

 tried on an extensive scale. 



Captain Jenkins, writing from Gowhatty in Upper Assam, thinks that 

 the Egyptian cotton has failed there, though the plants have grown 

 well, as none of the pods had then ripened. This may prove a pre- 

 mature conclusion. 



We cannot help remarking the number of instances of half finished 

 experiments recorded in these transactions, a system we cannot ap- 

 prove of, as such records can lead to no useful conclusions. 



We mentioned en passant that one paper from the pen of Mr. Bell 

 was of a controversial nature, and that we would return to it ; we now 

 do so, considering the subject one of such magnitude, both in its com- 

 mercial and agricultural bearings, as to merit even a much more com- 

 prehensive examination than we can now bestow on it. Mr. Bell's 

 paper is entitled, " Remarks on Dr. Lush's memoir on the cultivation 

 and preparation of cotton in the districts under the Bombay presi- 

 dency." As we are no parties to the controversy, and as we believe 

 many of our readers are ignorant of its merits, or even of its existence, 

 we shall, in the first instance, present an abridged view of the argu- 

 ments on both sides, and then make our own comments, beginning 

 with Dr. Lush's paper, which comes first in order. 



It opens with an enumeration of the species, botanica.Uy speak* 



