168 



Notices of Books. 



[July 



cotton does not degenerate ; and it by no means follows, that change 

 in the external appearance of the seed is accompanied by depreciation 

 of the quality of the produce: — finally, he rejects Dr. Lush's theory 

 as chimerical, " because he has advanced nothing whatever to con- 

 vince him, that it is easier to improve indigenous, than it is to establish, 

 permanently and profitably, the superior staples of foreign countries." 

 Dr. L., having mentioned the different qualities of some samples of cot- 

 ton produced on different kinds of soil, namely, pure black, black sand, 

 and black with nodules of lime gravel, the last infinitely the worst, he as- 

 sumes, because the result is at variance with those deduced by Mr. Pid- 

 dington from experiments, that he had not looked beyond the surface, 

 otherwise he would have found a more formidable enemy to the im- 

 provement of indigenous and successful introduction of foreign cotton 

 than soil, in the poverty of the cultivators (without however inferring 

 that soil is not a powerful agent), and in their mixing other crops to 

 make the soil yield its utmost ; and quotes some instances in illustra- 

 tion from papers in the Transactions. He then goes on to observe that 

 " the foregoing remarks sufficiently account for ' the mixture of dirt 

 and leaves, and the shortness of staple', complained of in the dispatch 

 of the Honorable Court of Directors to the Bombay Government in 

 1829, alluded to in Dr. Lush's essay, and is laid hold of to establish 

 another important error which the Doctor, in his zeal to make converts 

 to his views, has the indiscretion to publish, viz. ' The fact is, that the 

 rise of price has suggested new modes of separating the impurities at 

 home, and the dirty short fibred cotton now turns out to be not so bad 

 an article.' " 



To this it is answered, that, had the author digged deeper, and asked 

 the cause of this extraordinary rise of price, " the answer would have 

 been, extraordinary demand—and whence the demand ? The answer 

 would have come home to Dr. Lush, and all who are concerned in the 

 prosperity of Indian agriculture. The skill of the English has ruined our 

 Indian looms, and thrown some millions out of bread. The expensive 

 machinery of the English must be kept going, and if they cannot get 

 good cotton to work up to clothe those whom they have deprived of the 

 means of earning a bare subsistence, why they must take bad, and as 

 they are obliged to take what they can get, it is better that we should 

 plant cotton than starve, and as we cannot afford to buy good cloth, the 

 English will consult our means, and be keeping their wheels in motion, 

 and men at work, by sending us cheap bad cloth." Hence the infer- 

 ence that though bad cotton, rather than none, it does not follow that 

 if better cotton were introduced we should not find a remunerating 

 market, and that, in proportion to the means of purchasing, would be 

 the quality of the manufactured article. 



The practical results adduced to prove that foreign cottons, superior 



