CULTURE OF COCHINEAL IN INDIA. 
137 
CULTURE OF COCHINEAL IN INDIA. 
Dr. Roxburgh further mentions having received slips of 
the Cactus or Opuntia, obtained by Sir Joseph Banks from 
the Royal Gardens at Kew, and sent out by the Court of 
Directors, which, he states, grew astonishingly. Attention 
had been called to this subject by Dr. James Anderson, phy- 
sician-general of the Madras army, who was distinguished as 
much for his professional attainments as for his constant atten- 
tion to whatever would afford employment to the natives, 
and improve the productive resources of the country. Dr. 
Anderson had found an insect, which he imagined to be a 
kind of Cochineal, and with which he had dyed pieces of 
Flannel, Shawl, and Satin. Specimens were forwarded to the 
Court of Directors, and by their order subjected to various 
experiments, but were found to be entirely useless in dyeing. 
Sir Joseph Banks obtained similar results, but having as- 
certained (22d May, 1787,) that the specimens sent him were 
those of a real species of Coccus, he conceived the idea that 
the true Cochineal might easily be cultivated on the Coro- 
mandel Coast, as the "climate was as good as that of the West 
Indies (where it had been introduced;) the soil suitable to the 
production of the Cactus with few spines, and labor as cheap 
if not still more so, than in Mexico."* The Committee of 
Warehouses of the Court of Directors were led to entertain 
the same view, as they state in April, 1788. — " The supposed 
discovery of Dr. Anderson in the environs of Madras, which, 
although unsuccessful in the issue, has, nevertheless, led your 
Committee to conceive that the Insect may very successfully 
be introduced and propagated in the British settlements in 
India, to the advantage of the natives, the Company, and the 
British nation, by giving to the former a new article of Cul- 
* Letter to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., P. R. S., on the subject of Cochi- 
neal Insect, discovered at Madras ; 1788. By James Anderson, M. D., 
Physician-General, Madras. 
VOL. VII. — NO. II. 18 
