262 ON THE CULTURE OF COTTON IN THE DOAB AND BUNDELCUND. 
merou3 small scions are formed in the plants, 
they are plucked off, which expedient directs 
the sap to the productive branches and gives 
a better crop. In the month of Choyte, when 
the sun enters Pisces, the pods are formed, 
which are allowed to become fully ripe ; and, 
having at this period a gradual increasing 
solar heat, they burst and exhibit the wool 
in the fulness of bloom. The gathering 
continues until the month of Joistee. 
It is then threshed with an instrument 
in the form of a double reel, which winds 
adversely and throws out the seeds : it 
is then worked with a wired instru- 
ment called “ dhuvee” which fits it for 
sale. The produce may be estimated at 
about one maund of cotton in each beegah 
of the first crop. The price of the first 
sort is ten rupees ; second, eight ; third^ 
six rupees per maund. In the western 
provinces our author states that the pro- 
duce is more abundant from the peculiar 
adaptation of the soil and climate ; constant 
rain or two much moisture in the soil he 
states to be unfavorable to the growth of 
the plants which, in such situation, were 
destroyed by a species of vermin. Saline 
moisture or superabundance of putres- 
cent matter, heavy dews or frost, are 
also deemed unfavorable. 
Mr. Vincent, speaking of the culture of cot- 
ton in the Doab and Bundlecund, states that 
it is sown on almost all descriptions of soil, 
but chiefly in the richest lands from which, in 
the months of March and April preceding, the 
wheat and barley crops have been cut. The 
land is well manured preceding the rains, and 
is in general sown immediately after the first 
heavy showers at the end of J une or beginning 
of July, at the rate of 4§ and 5 seers 
of seed per biggah of 160 feet square; 
irrigation is seldom necessar’y, and never 
before the end of September or beginning of 
October. The plant is weeded three times, 
and in the best lands rises to the height 
of 4 and 5 feet ; in inferior lands to 2 and 
3 feet only. The pods are plucked when they 
begin to burst, which commences in Octo- 
ber and lasts until November. The cotton 
first plucked is represented as being the 
best; the cultivators make no difference, but 
mix all together ; an information which is of 
great importance ; for may not this neg- 
lect of selecting the first crop be one 
reason for the India cotton brought to 
market being of an inferior quality. Mr- 
Vincent states that the produce of a biggah 
is on an average about a maund of cotton. 
A specimen of cotton, gathered in the Bogle- 
pore district from a shrub in its wild state, 
w^as presented to the Agricultural Society by 
Mr. Hunter : it was of a superior kind and 
afforded a strong proof that the soil and 
climate of Boglepore in Behar is well suit- 
ed to the cotton plant. 
The following communication on the 
growth of cotton in Ava is of too great im- 
portance to admit of being abbreviated. 
“ The Burmese, it is well known, cultivate 
cotton very extensively, and the larger por- 
tion of the produce is exported ; conveyed to 
China by the inland routes, and to Arracan 
and the districts of Chittagong and Dacca, 
either overland, by the two passes of An or 
Aeng, and 'I'alak or Dalet, or by sea, fiom 
Bassein i-ound Cape Negrais. 
Two British merchants, Messrs. Laird 
and Conger, who had both resided for some 
time at this Capital, when examined by Mr. 
Crawffurd at the close of the w'ar, gave him 
the following information respecting the pro- 
bable quantity of cotton annually exported 
from this country. Mr. Laird considered 
that the quantity exported from Ava to China 
annually, could not be less than 70,000 Ben- 
gal bales of 300 lbs. each ; that is. 21,000,000 
lbs.; and Mr. Gouger estimated the quantity 
annually taken to Dacca by Burmese boats, 
to be about 20,000 bales of 100 viss or 360 lbs. 
each, thatis, 7,200,000 lbs. See Appendix to 
Crawfurd’s Mission to Ava, pp. 44 and 75- 
I am of opinion, that Mr. Laird’s estimate 
of the quantity exported to China is far too 
high, although my enquiries from the Bur- 
mese themselves w'ould go rather to confirm 
its accuracy. At my request Mr. Lane, an 
English merchant now residing here, private- 
ly applied to the Clerk or Collector, who 
levies the export duty of 3 ticals per 100* viss 
on cotton conveyed to China, and received the 
following statement of the quantity on which 
duty was actually levied during the year 1830, 
at the two Chinese marts. Made and Ban- 
mau pronounced Bamau. 
At Made 3, COO, 030 viss, <>r, 1-2,060,000 Ids. 
Ai Baii-inau ., . 6,i00,000 do oi , 24, l-iO,00O do^ 
Total 10,300,000 vis?, or, 37,080,000 llts. 
The number of boats-loadof cotton annu- 
ally taken to Made and Ban-raau was declared, 
by the same person, to amount to 1400 ; 
and he estimated the exports from the 
Shan countries to China at 1,200,000 viss, or 
4,320,000 lbs. 
Equal to about 12 | annas per maund, or p. 
cent, ad valorem. 
