The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-28 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

By the arrival of the Calcutta mail we have re-
ceived our private correspondence and files of papers
from Calcutta to the 23d of September, and from
Hongkong to the 12th of September.
We take the following from the Calcutta English-
man of the 23d of September :
" Our reports from all parts of the country con-
tinue to predict favourably of the expected cotton
crop of this year ; indeed we gather from all sides
that an area considerably in excess of previous
years is already under cotton cultivation ; great
efforts are being made in the cotton-growing dis-
tricts of the Madras and Bombay Presidencies par-
ticularly, to enable them to meet any call that may
be made upon them for their staple. Tinnevelly
has perhaps done more in this respect than any
other district, with the exception of Dharwar.
The cotton-growing districts bordering in the Goda-
very River are also reported to have considerably
increased the area usually devoted to the cultiva-
tion, and the facilities offered by the river for
transporting it to the coast will render any
increase from this quarter highly desirable, not
only as offering a prospect of large returns for
money invested, from the cheapness of water
carriage to the coast, but from the early date at
which it will be available for the same reason. In
Tinnevelly great and successful efforts have been
made not only to improve the staple derived from
indigenous seed (to which much attention has been
paid in recent years), but to introduce foreign
varieties. The experiments which have been tried
of late in nearly every cotton growing district of
India have generally tended to prove that provided
the seed be obtained by the grower early in the
year, or as shortly as possible after it has been taken
from the parent plant, there is no variety which
will not thrive and yield a plentitul crop. In Cen-
tral India the varieties which appear to promise
best are those raised from Egyptian and New Or-
leans seed, while in the coast districts Sea Island
seed is mostly preferred. Doubtless the success
attending on the cultivation of this description of
cotton in Dharwar has had much to with the favour
it now obtains in other maritime localities. In the
north-west provinces a trial has been given, chiefly
by European zemindars, to all the varieties of
foreign cotton seed ; and where attention to the
cultivation and a knowledge of requirements of
the plant have been brought to bear, success has
universally resulted, except in some few cases,
when the seed obtained has from age or other
causes been deficient in germinating power. Un-
fortunately, from ignorance and inattention on
the part of some who have been supplied with
seed, failure has attended on the attempt to
introduce foreign seed, and, as the natives are
always averse to innovation, they not unnatu-
rally ignore the success attendant on the efforts of
some, and adopt as proof of the unfitness of the
climate and soil for the cultivation of foreign
varieties the failure of others. It must not, how-
ever be overlooked, that in the north-west provinces
there are many semindars, planters, and ryots yet
living who remember the days in which screw and
cleaning houses existed in those districts, and when
a flourishing trade in cotton was carried on with
England, and the ruin which the introduction into
that country of American slave grown cotton en-
tailed on all concerned in its cultivation and pro-
duction. It is not unnatural therefore that men
who have once suffered so severely, and whose tales
of losses they have met with have been listened to
by those about them, should not only hesitate them-
selves, but cause others to do so, in re-entering
on the cultivation of a staple, for the permanent
demand for which they have no guarantee. To suc-
cessfully carry on a trade in cotton no inconsider-
able outlay is requisite. Gins and screws houses
must be established, and large advances made.
And when, before this can be accomplished, the
present fratricidal war now waging in America may
be terminated, and American slave-grown cotton
again find its way to English markets, to the ex-
clusion, as before, of all Indian-grown staple, it be-
comes a grave question as to whether the possible
return is likely to counterbalance the possible loss.
" This is a question more for Manchester than for
India to decide. If she is willing to invest a portion
of the millions she says she is prepared to spend on
Indian cotton, in the establishment of screw houses,
and agencies for the purchase of the staple, and will
show herself thoroughly in earnest, she will obtain
as much cotton as she can require. That she will
do so, even without this, we believe; but the
burnt child dreads the fire, and the former cotton
growers and exporters of the north-west will be
chary on entering again the furnace that has
once already nigh destroyed them. We are led to
believe that Oude will not be behindhand in the
cultivation of cotton, and we may fairly expect a
good return from that important province. From
the report of the administration-of this province for
the year 1860-61, we gather that two large zemin-
dars of Oude, Rajah Roostum Sah and Maharajah
Man Singh have entered con amore on the cultiva-
tion of cotton from foreign seed. The latter has this
year obtained a large supply of seed from Calcutta,
for the reception of which he has caused land to be
carefully prepared. Last year Rajah Roostum Sah,
notwithstanding the very late receipt of seed from
Calcutta, which was the cause of its meeting with
very limited use, produced from the seed he obtained
a very fair specimen of cotton. Thus encouraged,
we may confidently look for a vigorous prosecution
of the undertaking entered on, and for a good
supply from this province of cotton raised from
foreign seed.
" Meanwhile our advices from up-country assure
us that one reason that so little confidence is felt in
the cotton-growing districts of the north-west in
the manifesto published by Manchester and the
agents of her Cotton Supply Association (all of
which calls on India to supply her with cotton she
can no longer obtain from America) is that while
agents are travelling throughout the country
calling on the cultivators to grow cotton, there are
at the present time, in the depots on the Ganges,
upwards of 50,000 bales, for which the holders can
find no purchasers. A large portion of this cotton
comes no doubt from Nagpore, but nevertheless

there must be enough of it the property of per-
sons in the north-west to make them very doubtful
of the real existence of the urgent demand so loudly
trumpted forth, when they see these 50,000 bales
of the required commodity allowed to rot in the
warehouses which contain them.

" The sales of cotton goods during the past week
..
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11 sides