August  i,  1892. j ; HF  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
it  is  on  new  clearances  that  the  most  fatal  mortality 
occurs.  We  may  congratulate  the  Government  of 
India  on  making  the  best  of  present  coniitions,  and 
yet  hope,  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  that  the  time 
is  not  far  distant  when  Assam  will  be  linked  to  India 
by  rail,  and  when  the  landless  labourers  of  poorer 
provinces  will  throng  to  fresh  fields  and  pasture  new 
in  such  members  as  to  make  the  maintenance  of  a 
special  labour-law  unnecessary. 
We  cannot  doubt  that  the  planters  themselves,  and 
their  agents  in  Calcutta,  will  be  among  the  first  to 
welcome  the  changes.  Under  present  conditions  many 
a planter  has  occasion  to  shake  a gloomy  head  when 
a new  batch  of  wretched  anemic,  half-starved 
creatures  are  consigned  to  him  to  be  his  coadjutors 
in  doing  battle  with  the  jungle.  Some  will  live,  become 
acclimatised  and  do  good  w>  rk  in  time  : some  will 
die  ; all  will  be  useless  and  a source  ot  anxiety  and 
expense  for  many  a long  day.  But  the  planter  lias 
no  chi'ice,  and  he  has  to  make  the  best  of  the  poor 
creatures  who  are  tied  to  him  by  penal  contract.  He, 
too,  must  look  forward  with  eager  hope  to  a time 
when,  without  offering  extortionate  w-iges,  he  shall 
have  a ohoice  of  labourers,  end  he  able  to  pick  out 
sturdy  men  and  women  for  work  which  involves  much 
exposure  and  steadier  habits  of  labouring  tlnm  most 
Indian  races  practice.  But  a change  bo  radical  as  this 
will  not  be  effected  within  many  years  ; the  railway 
its  If  may  fail  to  attract  labourers  beyond  the  jute 
mills  of  Serajgenj  and  Narainganj.  In  the  meanwhile, 
it  is  reasurii  g to  find  Governmeut  buckling  itself  to 
the  task,  of  seeing  ihat  the  penal  conditions  of  the 
law  shall  only  be  enforced  on  gardens  on  which  the 
state  < f coolies,  in  the  matter  of  health  and  wages, 
is  really  better  than  it  was  in  their  own  country.  This 
it  can  only  do  if  it  is  wed  and  loyally  served  by  its 
subordinates  in  the  performance  of  an  invidious  and 
disagreeable  task,  lightened,  however,  by  the  know- 
ledge whioh  the  recently  published  despatches  afford, 
that  it  is  work  which  is  held  to  lie  of  the  highest  im- 
portance by  the  Government  which  they  serve,  and 
from  which  they  will  obtain  we  are  convinced,  the  fullest 
and  mosi  vigorous  support. — Pioneer,  June  14. 

COTTON  CULTIVATION  IN  GUZERAT. 
Through  the  exertions  of  the  writer  the  Gaekwar’s 
Government  were  induced  some  time  ago  to  issue 
an  official  notification  under  the  signature  of  Khan 
Bahadoor  Kazi  Shahoboodin,  c.i.e.,  then  Revenue 
Commissioner  of  the  State,  whioh  contains  some  very 
useful  suggestions  and  practical  directions  for  the 
cotton  cultivators  and  traders  living  in  the  towns 
and  villages  of  the  Baroda  districts.  I subjoin  a 
transaction  in  English  of  this  important  document 
which  is  written  in  Gnzeratee.  It  will  I think  be 
read  with  interest  by  the  Bombay  cotton  merchants 
as  it  practically  give  effect  to  all  their  suggestions 
as  to  the  proper  mode  of  growing  and  preparing 
cotton  for  sale  by  the  cotton  growers  of  Baroda. 
Prizes  should  annually  be  awarded  to  the  first  class 
cotton  growers  the  industry  encouraged  and  made 
to  flourish  by  all  means  in  the  power  of  the 
Government ; and  improved  implements  of  husbandry 
introduced  and  brought  into  use.  The  worthy  Kazi 
Saheb  says  in  the  official  notification  in  unmistak- 
able language  that  good  seed  should  be  sown  in  the 
territories  of  his  Highness  the  Gaekwar  to  produce 
really  good  cotton,  and  unless  this  advice  is  strictly 
carried  out  by  the  cultivators,  there  is,  I think,  no 
hope  of  improving  the  cotton  grown  by  them.  They 
have  good  soil,  plenty  of  water,  field  labour  is  cheap, 
and  if  there  is  a little  more  encouragement  and 
guidance  by  the  State,  the  prospects  will  soon  im- 
prove. All  that  is  wanted  is  careful  nurising  and 
rearing  of  the  young  cotton  plants  and  seedlings, 
growing  and  sowing  on  scientific  principles  and  judi- 
cious selection  of  cotton  seeds.  I daresay  there  is 
more  growing,  ginning,  spinning,  and  weaving  of  cotton 
in  India  than  in  any  other  Asiatic  country,  and  the 
Indians  ought  to  be  careful  of  this  great  source 
of  wealth  and  industry  for  their  country.  If  the 
Indians  are  not  cotton-wallahs,  they  are  nothing. 
Much  of  India’s  future  prosperity  depends  upon  the 
exports  and  cultivation  of  good  cotton,  and  I trust 
it  will  not  allow  this  valuable  industry  to  slacken, 
or  be  lost,  for  want  of  a little  energy.  In  this  di- 
rection Mr.  Sheppard,  the  Revenue  Commissioner, 
n.d.  has  done  much  valuable  service,  and  is  entitled 
to  gratitude  of  thousands  of  poor  cultivators  in 
Guzerat.  This  is  the  notification  alluded  to 
Notification  as  to  the  Mode  of  Preparing 
C otton  for  Sale  in  the  Baroda  Districts. 
“The  cotton  grown  in  the  territories  of  this  Go- 
vernment, owing  to  some  mismanagement  (or  im- 
proper manipulation)  in  regard  to  it  is  not  of  so 
superior  a quality  as  it  might  (or  ought  to  be),  or 
as  it  could  be  wished.  For  this  reason  the  price  it 
obtains  is  rather  less,  and  the  cultivators  suffer 
loss.  Therefore,  some  practicable  suggestions  that 
have  been  received  from  respectable  Bombay  mer- 
chants, who  are  in  a large  way  of  business,  are 
here  undernotified. 
2.  Cotton  seed  of  good  quality  should  be  carefully 
selected,  and  from  the  time  the  plants  shoot  or  grow 
up  the  cultivators  should  from  time  to  time  tend  or 
nourish  them  carefully. 
3.  The  cotton  produced  near  Broach  is  much 
better  in  quality  than  that  grown  in  the  Baroda 
State.  Therefore,  it  would  be  a very  good  thing  if 
the  cultivators  endeavoured  to  sow  cotton-seed  as 
used  in  that  part. 
4.  It  appears  that  in  many  parts  of  the  territories 
of  this  Government  it  is  the  custom  to  keep  huppas 
for  several  days  in  a pit  dug  into  the  ground,  five 
or  six  hands  deep.  The  huppas,  while  it  thus  re- 
mains in  the  pit,  absorbs  moisture,  and  thereby 
becomes  dingy,  or  discoloured,  and  of  a dark  hue, 
owing  to  the  rubbish  of  dry  leaves  with  which  it 
gets  mixed  up.  It  therefore  seems  probable  that 
if  the  custom  were  discontinued,  good  consequences 
will  ensure.  It  would  be  proper  to  keep  the  huppas, 
if  it  is  all  to  be  kept,  under  a roof  or  dehela  (store- 
room.) 
5.  It  also  appears  that  small  retail  dealers  and  culti- 
vators, who  grow  huppas,  and  who  raise  money  up- 
on their  products  before  the  huppas  come  to  matur- 
ity (they  are  generally  to  be  found  in  Nariad, 
Raji,  Padra,  Bal,  and  other  villages,  here  huppas  of 
a coarse  and  inferior  fibre  grows)  mix  inferior  kinds 
of  cotton  with  really  good  stuff  whereby  the  cotton 
produced  in  this  State  comes  to  be  received  as  of 
a low  quality.  This  should  not  be  done. 
Another  suggestion  to  be  also  made  is  that  huppas 
should  be  cleared  or  ginned  in  these  gins  or  mills 
which  may  be  fitted  with  the  latest  and  new  mechani- 
cal improvements,  as  the  cotton  cleaned  in  these 
gins  is  the  best  and  purest.  The  requisite  bright- 
ness and  purity  cannot  be  obtained  by  having  i kup- 
pas  ginned  or  cleared  by  gins  of  inferior  order  and 
antiquated  by  time ; thus  it  makes  a difference  in 
price.  The  pinning  mill  in  the  town  of  Nulla,  in 
the  Dabhoi  district,  is  said  to  be  a very  good  one, 
if  the  merchants  and  cultivators  would  act  up  to 
the  suggestions  herein-before  mentioned,  the  quality 
and  growth  of  cotton  mill  improve,  and  it  will  fetch 
a good  price.  “Be  it  directed  to  the  Patels  and 
Talatees  of  the  towns  and  villages  through  the  gra- 
cious Suba  Saheb  (Khan Bahadoor  Kazi  Shahboodeen, 
c.i.e.)  This  is  to  be  read  out  and  explained  to  all 
the  cultivators.” — Indian  Arjnculturist. 
TEA  IN  WYNAAD. 
This  heading  must  by  now  be  familiar  to  all  our 
readers,  and  those  in  whom  it  has  bred  contempt, 
mayftol  inclined  to  remark  that,  considering  what  it 
nsually  preludes,  it  is  not  unlike  that  other  well-known 
heading,  " Snakes  in  Iceland.’’  Ilowover,  there  is  tea 
in  Wynaad,  and  tea  that  produces  leaf  which  can 
oommnud  the  market  in  Mincing  Lane,  but  wherefore  is 
it  th.it  there  has  been  so  little  extension  of  cultivation 
in  this  dii'riot?  Our  South  Wynaad  correspondent  in 
a recent  interview  with  a planter  who  had  travelled 
through  Ceylon,  published  in  these  columns  a day  or 
two  ago,  repeate  1 what  has  already  been  frequently 
stated  by  us,  that  in  every  natural  facility  this  Southern 
