342 
ON  COTTOJV  CULTURE  IN  INDIA. 
cleaner  cotton  ready  for  the  agents  when  they  come  round  to 
purchase. 
The  carelessness  of  the  cultivators  and  the  fraud  of  the  agents 
will  not  be  diminished  till  European  colonization  is  increased, 
but  meanwhile  a  great  step  might  be  taken  by  the  merchants  at 
the  Presidencies  examining  the  cotton,  (as  the  Government"  does 
the  opium,)  regulating  the  price  by  the  quality,  and  refusing  such 
produce  as  degrades  Indian  cotton  in  the  home  market.  That 
good  and  clean  cotton  can  be  obtained  by  those  who  deal  directly 
with  the  producers  is  evident  by  the  East  India  Company's  Thomil 
cotton  in  former  times  being  of  this  nature,  agents  sending  dirty 
cotton  not  being  paid  their  commission.  The  Dharwar  and  Can- 
deish  cotton,  bought  up  and  cleaned  in  recent  experiments,  sold 
well,  and  we  have  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Turner  and  Messrs. 
Clarke  in  this  country,  and  of  Mr.  Landon  in  India,  that  Surat 
cotton,  when  brought  to  market  in  a  clean  state,  is  fit  for  spinning 
No.  40  yarns.  The  most  effective  and  cheapest  way  of  securing 
general  improvement  would,  therefore,  appear  to  be  in  the  first 
instance  for  Chambers  of  Commerce  or  manufacturers  to  estab- 
lish agencies  at  the  places  of  export,  whose  firm  dealing  with  the 
native  agents  would  compel  the  supply  of  a  cleaner  cotton.  When 
English  planters  multiply  and  English  machinery  is  at  work  in 
the  interior,  there  will  be  little  difficulty  in  increasing  the  pro- 
duce, and  sending  it  to  market  in  a  state  fit  to  compete  with 
ordinary  American  Uplands  cotton.  Until  the  cotton  can  be 
cleaned  and  prepared  on  the  spot,  for  transmission  by  the  river 
and  rail  conveyance  that  will  hereafter  open  up  Indian  commerce, 
the  main  hope  of  improvement  must  rest  on  the  interference  by 
European  agents  with  the  wakarias,  chettys,  and  other  middle- 
men, whose  exactions  and  frauds  have  disgraced  this  branch  of 
Indian  commerce.  The  general  results  of  Dr.  Royle's  inquiries 
may  be  thus  briefly  stated : — First,  the  climate  of  India  is,  on 
the  whole,  unsuitable  to  the  successful  culture  of  the  American 
species  of  cotton-plant ;  secondly,  the  native  Indian  cotton  may 
be  brought  to  the  English  market  at  a  price  and  in  a  condition 
to  supply  regularly  half  the  demand  of  the  manufacturers ; 
thirdly,  the  hindrances  to  the  increase  of  profitable  Indian  cotton 
commerce  arise  chiefly  from  the  demand  and  price  being  depen- 
dent on  the  greater  or  smaller  crops  of  America,  the  manufac- 
