stopped up in a vessel, generally an old receptacle
of oil or clarified butter, and hung up to
the roof of the hut used as a kitchen. Before
the approach of the month of Aswin (September-
October), the proper time of planting, the seeds
are steeped in water for several days, and are
then sown in some rich manure: generally, the
bedding of cowhouses. When the blades
appear, the plants are removed to the ground
already prepared. High lands are chosen for
the crop, and are ploughed crosswise from eight
to twelve times until they present a level surface.
The plants are then set in regular rows, distant
about two cubits from each other. The
labour of four men is necessary to the planting
of one biggah (one-third of an acre) in one day.
The plants grow to the height of from three to
three and a half feet, their branches spread each
way from one to one and a half feet, the roots
going to a depth of the same extent, and reaching
sidewise the length of from nine inches to
one foot. In the months of December and
January, the labour of two men per biggah is
employed in furrowing round the plants, and weeding.
During the month of Falgoon (February-
March) the plants flower; and the crop is gathered
during the months of Vaishakh and Jaishtha—in
other words, from the latter end of April to the
middle of June: May being usually the busiest
month. Irrigation is resorted to when there is
a paucity of rain; but, as a general rule, the
plants are watered twice a month during March
and April. The plants are not generally subject
to any particular disease; though hailstorms
during the approach of summer, and a kind of
grub called Lal-poka, or "red insect," sometimes
injure them. A crop is estimated at from sixty
to ninety seers (two pounds to the seer) per
biggah; and the average proportion of wool to
the seeds is as one to three nearly: the wool
selling at less than ten rupees (a rupee equal to
two shillings) per thirty seers. It has been
estimated that more than three thousand biggahs
of land are under cotton cultivation in
Burdwan, while the annual produce realises about
twenty-five thousand rupees.

The above statement is partly applicable to
several other districts in Bengal, such as Hooghlee,
24 Perzunnahs, Baraset, &c. Content
with what they have learnt from their ancestors
and wanting encouragement and example, the
cultivators go on according to their old rude
methods. It is more than probable that
British skill can introduce many important
improvements into the mode of cultivation. Nor
are the people of India, at least of Bengal,
unwilling to co-operate with the capitalists of
Britain. Conversation with more than one zemindar,
or landholder, and with several cultivators
at different places, brought out the fact that they
would gladly turn their whole mind to the cultivation
of cotton if they were properly remunerated.
The latter clause is italicised, because it is the
writer's belief that the cultivators rarely get
adequate remuneration when they are employed by
Europeans, such as indigo planters. Not that
the Europeans make a rule of not paying for the
work performed, but because their native servants
deprive the cultivators of their due. These
natives, as a class (whether they be in the employ
of indigo planters or of zemindars, or even of
government), may be characterised as uneducated
and unprincipled. It is from their intercourse
with such natives that some English writers
have unfortunately drawn their opinion of the
national character. Gain (by whatever means
it may be secured) is the all-absorbing object of
their lives, and they never miss an opportunity
of extorting money from the poor ryots. The
ryots are a timid race of men, who seldom, dare
make any complaints, especially as the native
officials take care to impress them with the
falsehood that the saheb (meaning the European)
is himself determined not to pay them
more. Should any ryot ever venture to lay his
grievances before a European planter, he is
generally met with a Chulla jao gadha! "Get
away, you ass!" either because the
European is duped by his wily servants, or
because he thinks it inconsistent with his dignity
to interfere with minor details: sometimes,
perlaps, because of sheer idleness. The
consequence is, that the ryots grumble, and blame
their employers, and jog on.

What is the remedy for this evil? How
ought the British capitalists to proceed with
regard to the cultivation of cotton? The
unprincipled amlahs should be as much dispensed
with as possible. Employ educated natives, and
ten to one they will prove themselves faithful
both to their employers and the ryots. Give
them decent salaries, and in the long run they
will prove to be cheap. The educated men in
Bengal being generally resident about towns,
may not be familiar enough with the mufussil,
or provincial affairs, to be at once perfectly
useful; but their honesty and integrity will amply
compensate for their lack of local knowledge,
which they will soon acquire. Such employments
will render the educated natives, the
alumni of colleges and schools, far more useful
to their country than they can now possibly be.
These remarks are written by one of the Hindoo
race, who confidently hopes and believes that if
British capitalists will adopt proper methods for
the raising of cotton in India, they will not only
be able to invest their capital profitably to
themselves, but will also be the instruments of
conferring lasting benefits upon the people of that
country.

PROFESSOR BON TON.

IN TWO CHAPTERS. CHAPTER THE LAST.

I AM happy to be able to state that the
concluding portion of Professor Bon Ton's advice—
that with which we have now to do—is devoted
in great measure to the subject of morning calls,
though I am sorry to say that the difficulties
which some among us experience in getting
through visits of ceremony are by no means
likely to be lessened by the Professor's instructions.
These are in the main confined to
external matters, the taking of chairs, the