ON  COTTON  CULTURE  IN  INDIA. 
giving  advice  as  their  development  in  the  new  epoch  which  will 
date  from  the  suppression  of  the  Sepoy  revolt.  Whatever  altera- 
tion may  take  place  in  the  political  government  of  India,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  changes  are  at  hand  in  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial relations  of  the  country.  Want  of  British  colonists  and 
of  British  capital  have  hindered  progress  up  to  this  time,  but  the 
preliminary  work  of  exploration  and  inquiry  has  meanwhile  been 
going  on ;  and  among  those  who  have  supplied  scientific  infor- 
mation likely  to  be  turned  to  good  practical  account,  the  first 
place  is  due  to  Dr.  Boyle.  During  thirty  years'  service  in  the 
East  he  filled  various  important  situations  ;  one  of  which  was 
the  superintendence  of  the  Hon.  Company's  Botanic  Garden  at 
Saharunpore.  Since  his  return  to  England — whether  as  Pro- 
fessor in  King's  College,  London,  or  as  a  director  of  the  Great 
Exhibition  of  1851,  or  as  the  author  of  valuable  treatises — he 
has  assiduously  labored  to  attract  attention  to  the  productive  re- 
sources of  India.  His  latest  work,  completed  shortly  before  the 
illness  preceding  his  lamented  death,  was  a  review  of  the  mea- 
sures which  have  been  adopted  in  India  for  the  improved  culture 
of  cotton, — an  inquiry  of  deep  interest  to  the  philanthropist  and 
the  statesman,  as  well  as  to  the  merchant,  manufacturer,  and 
capitalist. 
In  1851,  Dr.  Royle  published  a  more  extended  work  on  "  The 
Culture  and  Commerce  of  Cotton  in  India."  These  two  branches 
of  the  subject  are  in  themselves  distinct,  as  much  so  as  was  the 
controversy  about  the  Corn  Laws  from  questions  of  agricultural 
improvement  in  our  own  country.  In  treating  of  Indian  cotton 
culture,  the  inquiry  is  simply  how  to  increase  and  to  improve  the 
article  produced,  whether  for  local  consumption,  or  for  com- 
peting in  the  European  market  with  American  produce.  But, 
in  considering  the  commerce  in  cotton,  the  subject  is  complicated 
by  a  variety  of  social  and  political  questions.  Dr.  Royle's 
opinions  on  these  will  have  due  weight,  and  his  historical  ac- 
count of  the  Indian  cotton  commerce  will  be  useful  for  refer- 
ence ;  but  the  most  valuable  part  of  his  work  is  that  which  treats 
of  the  principles  and  practice  of  cotton  culture.  The  Review 
lately  published  contains  an  analysis  and  report  of  observations 
and  experiments  down  to  the  most  recent  date. 
The  Indian  cotton-plant  is  a  distinct  species,— the  G-ossypium 
