1837.] Transactions of the Agri- Horticultural Society of India. 169 



to the country ones, can be produced in India, and the probabilities of 

 their becoming extensively cultivated in the Bengal provinces, we do 

 not think it necessary to recapitulate j for, however satisfactory so far 

 as they go, they are yet comparatively in their infancy, and on too 

 small a scale to admit of any thing beyond prospective conclusions 

 being deduced from them, and can only be looked upon as experiments 

 in progress, but not sufficiently advanced to afford sure data from which 

 to reason, and therefore not fit to be opposed to the experience of Dr. 

 Lush, as given in his succeeding papers. 



Mr. Bell concludes his paper with the following comment on Dr. 

 Lush's statement, that the cotton imported (from the interior ?) into 

 Bombay, has increased within a few years from the annual value of 

 eighty or ninety lakhs to nearly three crores — " I am at a loss to know 

 from what source Dr. Lush has derived his information, but if the 

 Bombay Courier of the 10th May 1836, gives correct views of the cotton 

 trade, the exports of this article for six years ending 1835 inclusive, to 

 China and Great Britain, afford an average 195,118 bales, and, suppos- 

 ing them to contain 300-lbs. each, and estimating the cotton at eight 

 rupees per maund, would give an annual export of something more 

 than fifty-three and a half lakhs in value. How the dealer disposes of 

 the difference, say two crores, I am at a loss to understand. The ex- 

 ternal commerce of Bengal has not, for many years, been so brisk as it 

 is at this moment, but Bombay will beat us hollow if she takes such 

 fast strides with other products as Dr. Lush has given her credit for in 

 the article cotton." 



The extracts we have made from this paper are sufficient to show the 

 style of the author, and the preceding abstract the train of argument 

 he employs. We acknowledge the difficulty of abridging Mr. Bell's 

 writing, but the space we have devoted to his paper, will, we trust, 

 satisfy him, if we have failed in doing him justice, that it is from no 

 want of inclination on our part. To this paper Dr. Lush has published 

 a reply, a portion of which we shall quote, partly with a view of ex- 

 hibiting a specimen of his style, on which we propose by and by to 

 make some observations, but still more to show how he has evaded the 

 strongest argument brought against him, and which, if inconclusive, 

 ought to have been the easiest answered ; thereby leaving the impres- 

 sion on the mind that Mr. Bell has equally the advantage throughout. 

 " I have received Mr. Bell's paper, which is instructive and amusing ; 

 of course most of the remarks are answered in those portions of my 

 paper which have been published since he began his commentaries." 

 " It is rather desultory work replying to remarks on a paper, when you 

 are uncertain how much of it has been read, but still very certain that 

 part, that has been read, has not been understood— however, I cannot 

 but feel flattered at the notice taken of my remarks, and hope it will 



