432 DR. WIGHT’S ABLE REMARKS ON THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 
The process of fabrication, by such piitni- 
tive methods, is so slow, that a man and liis 
family, in constant employment, can do little 
more than support themselves by their labour. 
When, on the contrary, the raw material is 
exported at heavy cost to Britain, and manu- 
factured there, with the aid of improved ma- 
chinery, it can be brought back and sold, 
after paying the expences of a second voyage, 
from 20 TO 30 per cent, under the produce of 
the same quality of the native loom. Owing 
to this difference, when the trade was ihrow'n 
open, and free access was allowed to British 
maiuifactuies, their cheai)ness soon drove the 
Indian ones out of their accustomed markets, 
and caused at first great distress to our manu- 
facturing population. Now, however, the 
scales are re-adjusting themselves to our alter- 
ed circumstances, anj the advantages of the 
change are becoming evident. The exporta- 
tion ol piece goods, from the comparatively 
small quantity that could be pioduced for ex- 
portation, and the gieat expence of fabrication, 
never could return a propoitional, if even a 
remunerating, pi ofii to the country. 'J'he raw 
material, on the contrary, owing to the unli- 
mited demand, the comparatively high price 
which it bears, and the small expense of pre- 
paring it for the market, not only remunerates, 
out returns such a profit, as to stimulate to a 
vastly increased production ; when we add to 
this, that our growers can novv clothe them- 
selves with English cloth mo:e cheaply than 
they formerly could with native, we can at 
once appreciate the advantages which India 
is in course of deriving from the English cot- 
ton manufactories ; and how much her future 
prosperity must depend on the extension and 
improvement of her cotton cultivation. I'he 
fulfilling of these conditions is, in truth, in- 
dispensable to a continuance of that commer- 
cial prosperity, which isnow beginning to dawn 
on us ; since, unless we labour diligently to 
improve the quality, and diminish the expor- 
tation price of our cotton, great as the demand 
now assuredly is, we can scarcely expect that 
it will be able to liold its present place in the 
English market, when opjosed by so many 
competitors, and, still more, by the long and 
expensive voyage required to bring it into 
that market. 
This is not the place to enter on the descrip- 
tion of the methods of cultivation, but 1 may 
mention, generally, that the soil of much of 
the Peninsula is well suited for raising some 
of the finer kinds of foreign cotton, such as the 
Bourbon and American green seed cottons. 
'J'hose soils in which the former thrives best, 
at leastin the Tinnevelly district, are light, 
loose, and sandy, of a deep rusty red colour, 
and largely impregnated with iron ; for the lat- 
ter, dark soils, of a loose and friable descrip- 
tion, from containing a considerable admixture 
of sand, and that have formerly been under 
wet cultivation. I’o do the plants justice 
these should be ploughed with a deeper furrow 
than is usual in Hindoo agriculture, to allow 
of free access to the depth of at least a foot to 
a large descending, or tap, root with which it 
is furnished. The sowings are generally com- 
menced near the end of the rains; it would be 
better if they were done earlier, to allow the 
plants time to attain nearly their full size, be- 
fore the hot dry season set in. This is of con- 
sequence, because it is the check which it then 
receives, that determines to the foimation of 
flower b'lds, which, by t eing delayed till this 
more advanced stage, would probably be pro- 
ductive of larger crops and better cotton. 
Cropping the ends of the young shoots, at this 
lime, would still further lead to the same 
effect; by slopping the too rapid flow of the 
sap, and favouring the concentration of the 
sect eiions, and thereby the formation of flowers 
and fruit. I mentioned, at the conclusion of 
my last paper, the tendency of extreme luxu- 
riancy of vegetation to cause sterility. This 
is frequently the case with cotton; hence the 
almost constant failure of attempts to cultivate 
Bourbon and American cottons, on tv hat is 
called the black cotton soil , its extreme fer- 
tility causing them to run to wood and leaves, 
and produce no flowers. So different is the 
indigenous Indian cotton, in this respect, 
that on the red soils it gives both inferior 
crops, and cotton inferior quality, and at- 
tains its greatest perfection on the black. 
Pruning the extremities of the young nranches, 
is extensively practised in some coun- 
tries where the plant has been long and 
very successfully cultivated. Some practical 
writers however object to this practice, they 
say, as the result of experience ; but, as the 
experiments made to prove this position are 
not detailed wfith sufficient exactitude, to 
enable me to determine their value, by an 
examination of the circumstances that might 
iiave an unfavourable effect on the result, and 
as they are at variance with the principle of 
vegetable physiology, 1 feel disposed to doubt 
their accuracy. As this is a practical question 
of great importance, and one which can only 
be set at rest by a series of carefully conducted 
experiments, 1 must, for the present, leave it 
in the hands of those who enjoy opportunities 
of examining it in that manner, and shall feel 
much indebted to any one who can give me 
practical information, on this, or on any 
other, point connected with the cultivation of 
cotton. 
1 have been induced to enter, thus largely, 
on the consideration of subjects connected 
with the cotton trade, for the sake of showing 
the advantages India is already reaping from 
her, as yet comparatively limited, engage- j 
ment in this branch of commerce, and of call- | 
ing attention to the much greater ones she i 
may expect to flow from it, as the rewards 
of industry and attention to increase the quan- 
tity, and improve thfe staple, of the article 
which forms its basis, in the hope of inducing 
practical men to lay the results of their expe- ' 
rience before the public, for the guidance of I 
their less informed neighbours. As there are 
but few Europeans engaged in this culture, I 
more especially address myself to intelligent 
and well iiiformed natives, many of whom are 
readers of this Journal, and, among whom, 
1 feel assured, there are many, both able and 
willing, to furnish much really useful infor- 
mation, acquired during a series of years devo- 
ted to agricultural pursuits, but who ate kept 
back, either by supposing that they have no- 
thing new to communicate, or from a distrust 
