Allan Octavian Hume, C.B./Appendix I
APPENDIXES
APPENDIX I
Etawah, 2^th July, i860, o G. R. Haywood Esq. Secretary to the Cotton Supply Association^ Manchester, R Sir, —
Your letter and circular, dated December 1859 only cached me on the ijth of the current month — with whom the elay rests I cannot say — I at least am not in fault.
Fully concurring with you in the importance of increasing e quantity and improving the quality of the cotton grown in these provinces, I have for years given the subject as much attention as I could spare from my other multifarious duties, and am therefore in a position to answer most of the Queries put by you.
At the same time, lest, seeing how unsatisfactory many of my replies necessarily are, you should be disposed to wonder or cavil at my not having taken more energetic measures, to further the objects that I with you admit to be most desirable, allow me to remind you, that to an officer, to whom the entire government of six or seven hundred thousand people is confided, an improved or enhanced growth of cotton, can at most be but a very secondary
object, to which time and attention can only be devoted,
! after weightier matters, such as the securing protection to life and property, the establishment and maintenance of schools, hospitals, and public libraries, the realization of f Revenue, the construction of PubUc Works, etc., etc., have
been duly provided for.
And now to reply to your queries seriatim —
1. The cotton plant is grown in this, the Etawah District.
2. There is only one kind of cotton now grown in this district, I enclose samples, in the boll and cleaned. The former may be taken as a fair specimen of the best average cotton here grown — the latter will enable you to judge how far the Churkha here in use injures the fibre. The quality of the produce depends very much on the soil and season and fully half of the Etawah cotton is (taking the average of several years) inferior to the enclosed sample — on the other hand about lo per cent, is superior.
3. No cotton of the American variety is grown here, nor would there appear to have ever been any vigorous efforts on a large scale to introduce its cultivation. Some few of the Zemindars seem to have tried a few acres of it some twenty- five years ago, but it took they allege so long to flower that the bolls never rightly came to maturity. I myself have sown it for three successive years without any success. I have so little time for gardening that I fear the cotton (though I saw it planted myself on the most approved form of ridge, and subsequently moulded and hilled) did not get properly looked after. Perhaps however the seed was in fault — the people here usually call the American variety "Nurma Kupas" or soft cotton.
4. Last year we had 57,675 acres of land under (cotton) cultivation and the produce amounted to 107,929 maunds or 8,634,320 lb., showing an average yield of only 150 lb. per acre ; but the rains were very defective, and I think I shall not be wrong in assuming 250 lb. as the average yield per acre, in a fair season, of our average good land.jwhen reason- ably carefully cultivated.
5. See No. 3.
6. Our soil varies in different parts of the district from very light sandy earth (" Bhoor " as it is here called) to a rich but still not clayey loam (known as " Do mut "). The climate is that of the rest of the districts of the central Duab — but perhaps a little warmer than some of its neigh- bours in January and February, cold at night and in mornings and evenings the temperature is often below freezing-point — in the middle of the day it ranges from 80° to 94° in the sun ; towards the end of February the heat increases and in March and the first fifteen days of April the temperature gradually rises, so that by the end of March the thermometer may be said never to fall below 65° and to rise to 110° at midday. During the latter part of April, May, and June till the first showers of the rain fall the heat is very great and the hot winds blow more or less continually. The ther- mometer very rarely, even just before sunrise falling below 80° and at 2 p.m. rising to 120° in the shade (we had it above that in our tents in 1858) and to 140° and even more incredible heights if exposed to the sun — however, towards the middle or end of May we sometimes have a Httle heavy rain which for a time cools the air. During June or early in July the periodical rains commence and continue with more or less violence till the end of August or the middle of September. The temperature during these months (depen- dent chiefly on the amount of rain that falls and the manner in which the falls are distributed) varies so much in different years and at different parts of the same season that it is difficult to give it any numerical representative, but perhaps if I assume 86° as the lowest and 112° as the highest average temperature in the shade during the rains, I shall not be far wrong. After the rain ceases there is usually a month of very hot and steamy weather, but during the course of October, the nights begin to grow cool, and the latter half of November and December are almost as cool as January. There is usually a fall of rain about the end of December which lasts a few days. The total fall of rain during the whole year is I estimate on the average 28 inches, of which 22 fall during the Rainy Season.
7. The cotton seed is usually sown during June after the first or second good fall of rain, but it is also at times (especially if the rains are late) sown in dry ground and there left to await the expected showers.
In years in which the rains are favourable, viz., in which the total fall is pretty equably distributed throughout the three months from 15 June to 15 September, no irrigation is required or resorted to. But when there is a failure of rain during the early part of the season the people irrigate wherever they can ; but if the rain still holds off irrigation is generally abandoned as too expensive and of little use. The out-turn is best when the rains cease a little before the plant flowers, which is on the average 75 days from the date of sow- ing in wet earth, or of the first good shower if sown in dry. The produce is scarce and of an inferior quality when rain falls on the flower, and still more so when it falls on the pod. We reckon a lightish loam best suited to cotton, and find that manuring it adds much more to the produce than it would in the case of wheat or barley — hence what little manure the people take the trouble to collect and cart i% usually devoted to cotton lands. Irrigation is available in about one fourth of the district from the Ganges Canal (or will soon be when all the minor irrigation channels are complete) and in about another fourth from wells, tanks, rivers, etc. The people as a rule believe that irrigation neither improves the quality nor increases the quantity of the produce.
8. Clean cotton is on the average one-third of the total picking, that would give for last year only an average of 50 lb. per acre and in good years 80 lb. In this district three times the land now under cultivation could be easily devoted to the growth of cotton.
9. Nothing would be easier than to extend the cultivation, if set about in a proper way. What we chiefly require are money advances, increased intelligence and a ready and good sale on the spot (see further No. 12).
10. The only obstacles are want of capital and intelligence and the extreme uncertainty of the demand (see further No. 12).
11. Of the produce of this district we estimate that not more than one-third is consumed by the natives of the district itself, but that of the remainder not more than 2,000,000 lb. is exported to England, the rest being absorbed in Bengal.
12. There are no European merchants in this or any of the surrounding districts who purchase or as far as I can judge would purchase cotton. Nor are there any native merchants who purchase cotton on a large scale. Radhe Lall, Bhugwan Dass and Umrao Singh are the chief native cotton purchasers of Etawah, but they together scarcely purchase ;^io,ooo worth per annum. Some twenty-five years ago Messrs. Wright and I think Ritchie at Agra, and Mr. Bruce at Calpee did a good deal of business in this line, here and in the neighbouring districts — and Mr. Bruce was a cotton planter as well as purchaser. All seemed to have failed. This was long before I came to this part of the country, and I cannot therefore offer any opinion of my own as to the causes of their want of success, but if any reliance may be placed in native accounts, their failure was due to causes independent of the trade in which they were engaged. Mr. H. H. Bell of Oomergarh, in the Muttra district, also I believe some fourteen years ago, tried (at the request of the late J. Thomason Esq., Lt.-Governor) the experiment of growing American cotton and purchasing the native variety, but he too would seem to have found the business unprofitable. You ask what agency should be employed to purchase cotton and send it home to England. I would suggest that the Association send out to Etawah some member of one of the large Manchester firms whose name would be a sufficient guarantee for the character of his transactions. That this gentleman should estabhsh here a regular agency for the purchase and factory for the cleaning and pressing of cotton. This should be bought raw and cleaned under his own supervision — a good steam Pratt gin, for instance, would increase the value of the cotton 15 per cent, and save 5 per cent, in labour, while if fuel became ultimately any difficulty, as it possibly might, cattle, horse or mule power might be used as in the States. The cotton so bought and cleaned should be pressed, packed, and sent off from here to England (in boats to Calcutta by the Jumna). The cotton agent might at the same time gradually introduce better kinds of cotton, keeping up a small model farm both with the view of ascertaining which varieties are best for this part of the country, and which is the most advantageous mode of growing them, and also for the purpose of keeping up a supply of acclimatized seed for distribution and giving the growers practical lessons of how to improve their hus- bandry. Moreover as the produce increased the agent could gradually introduce good hand gins, and get a great deal of the cotton well cleaned by the people themselves. Besides the produce of Etawah itself, a factory at Etawah would command the whole produce of the very extensive cotton field of which it is the centre and which includes a great portion of Dholpoor, Agra, Muttra, Mynpooree, Fur- rackabad, Cawnpoor, Jalown, and the North of Gwahor. I don't hesitate to say that with two or three years of libera^ just, and ready-money transactions 25,000,000 lb. of clean cotton could be easily sent home annually from here, and if a system of advances to intending cultivators was adopted, I should not despair of multiplying the amount many times. The business would require capital, temper, time, intel- ligence, and liberality, and what is not common in India, regular business habits — but it would, I believe, be very profit-^ able, and a few such agencies in India judiciously locate<(L would I believe enable our merchants in Manchester to command an almost indefinite supply of cotton of any quality that the physical conditions of soil and climate permit the growth of. What the highest quality here obtainable really is time and repeated experiments on a considerable scale, by men who know exactly what to try and how to try it, alone can show, but that the present standard can be very considerably raised even without the introduction of new varieties, I have myself twice practi- cally proved. Even supposing that no cotton better than the sample sent were to be usually grown here, the scheme I propose would I conclude be remunerative. At present, the grower sells it to a petty dealer, after having " mangled " it with an infamous " churkha " that very seriously injures the fibre, the petty dealer sells it to a native merchant, who packs it (without any press, and so badly that it has to be repacked down country), and exports it sometimes direct to Calcutta, but more often only Mirzapoor ; and then it passes through one or two more hands before it is finally shipped for England. Surely the direct agency properly managed, by which the cotton is cleaned without injury to the fibre, packed at once and exported without there being any middleman to absorb the profits, would be amply remu- nerative when the present ill-managed system affords profits sufficient to support five or six different parties.
Cotton of the quality of the raw sample herewith sent might I calculate on the average, if bought in large quan- tities, cleaned by good gins, properly packed and sent down the Jumna in boats, be put on board ship at Calcutta at Rs. 10 8 ans. per maund, or at £i is. per 80 lb. avoir- dupois, or 3*15 per lb. (exclusive of cost of agency and risk of insurance). The question is what will the freight home cost, and what would the average value of cotton of the quality of the raw sample herewith sent be in Manchester if it had been properly cleaned by a good gin ?
I must however note that the price of cotton here is liable to most extraordinary fluctuations : at the present moment if I had to buy cotton, clean it, etc., it would cost (even supposing I had all the means and appliances above suggested) at least 4^ per lb. before it got on ship board at Calcutta. This I take to be owing in great measure to the extreme uncertainty of the demand. Were there a regular agency for its purchase here, I do not think the price would ary as much as it now does or average higher than that above quoted.
13. The actual price of the cotton cleaned at Etawah is usually under the present retail system about Rs. 7 12 ans., or 15s. 6d. (it is much more at the present moment) per maund of 80 lb., but if bought and cleaned by horse or steam gins, on a large scale, would, besides being much better, stand in some 8 ans. or is. less. It costs now 8 ans. or is. to pack one maund of it very badly — with a good screw press it could be packed so as not to require reopening till it reached England for 4 ans. or 6d., and it is carried from here to Calcutta in boats via the Jumna to Allahabad, and thence by the Ganges and Hooglee for Rs. 3 or 6s, per maund, whereas, if properly packed, it would certainly cost 8 ans. per maund less in transit. We have therefore —
Cost of cotton of quality of sample cleaned at Etawah, per maund of 8olb.... Packing ditto Carriage to Calcutta Cost at Calcutta of maund or 8o lb. At present Indian. English. Rs. I as. o 15 9 10 o 6 o 129 As suggested. Indian. English. Rs. as. 7 6 o 4 2 8 10 2 14 o o o 5 9 6 i o 3
I would add that though, allowing for contingencies, I have in answer No. 12 stated the price per maund of 80 lb. at Rs. 10 8 ans. or £1 is., I should myself be sanguine of reducing this average if the business were conducted on a sufficiently large and liberal scale.
14. Etawah is admirably situated as a locality for a cotton agency — it is built, as the map will show you, on the banks of the Jumna, thus ensuring cheap and uninterrupted water carriage to Calcutta. It has moreover a good road from Gwalior on the one hand (crossing the Jumna and Chambal, over both of which I have established bridges of boats) and ■ to Furrickabad on the Ganges on the other ; the main rail- road from Allahabad and Calcutta to Agra, Delhi and the Punjaub passes through it, and though two years will pro- bably elapse before that portion of the line lying between Raj Mehal and Allahabad is entirely complete the section from Allahabad to Agra will it is believed be open to the public in less than a twelvemonth. Besides this I have during the last three years constructed some 400 miles of good cart roads leading from all parts of the district to the 1 town of Etawah itself, so that really the only way in which the means of conveyance could, as far as I can see, be improved v^ould be by the construction of a better class of barges for the transport of the cotton by river. These should I think be iron, and built in compartments. The sinking and burning of the boats now in use are a source of great loss.
15. The growers have only the common seed. If really good seed were furnished them numbers would be glad to buy it on a small scale at first and if it succeeded on a large scale afterwards. The fact is that as far as my experience goes, Hindoos like Englishmen, are perfectly ready to take any good advice or . adopt any good plan, if you can only I demonstrate to them practically that it pays. That is the ) touchstone. If the higher quality for any reason does not pay them so well as that they now grow, they will after a few trials abandon it — if it pays better you may depend on their sticking to it. One thing that is necessary for the successful growing of the foreign varieties is a short practical manual, drawn up with reference to the requirements of this country and these provinces. Louisiana and Alabama are not at all like the North- West provinces of India, and prize essays on the cultivation of Orleans staple cotton in the Valley of the Mississippi, are believe me but of little value in Etawah no matter how " experienced " the " planters " from whom they emanate. A good practical manual such as we require could be best compiled after a few years of experience at an Experimental Farm of the kind alluded to in my twelfth answer.
16. The native " Churkha " is the only instrument here used at present and they have no press for baling it. The cotton is packed for the market in the most primitive fashion imaginable. Bags of a cylindrical form, about 4 feet long by 3 feet in diameter, open at one end, are suspended (so that the bottom is about a foot off the ground) by four or more ropes run through the edges of the mouth or open end, to a like number of poles firmly planted in the ground round about the bags. The cotton is then thrown in little by little, and a man standing inside the bag keeps steadily treading it down till the bale is full — such bags usually contain 3 mauni 5 seers, or 250 lb. of cotton each. There is a smaller kin also in use here which weighs when full only about 150 lb?
17. The cost^ of cleaning cotton by the " Churkha " is 3 o^ 3A^^^ of a penny — a man who receives 2 ans. or 3d. per diem cleans 5 seers or 10 lb. in a day. The seed usually sells for about 10 per cent, more than the cost of cleaning.
18. Samples of the cotton here grown both in the raw state and cleaned are put up.
19. I have no seed that I can depend on. This year I have got a little from the Calcutta Agri-horticultural Society, which if it succeeds will enable me to distribute a little seed next year, but if the Association choose to furnish me with a considerable quantity of first-rate seed, I will undertake to get it tried in many places of the district and if it succeeds to have the seed so raised distributed on a large scale ; but it must be distinctly understood that such seed must reach me free of cost and that I cannot myself go to any expense in cultivating it as I have already too many schools, libraries, and other district institutions entirely dependent on me» to undertake any new scheme at present.
20. Samples of the cotton fabrics of this district (with the prices in English and Indian money and other particulars on labels attached to them) are herewith forwarded.
21. In this district there is but little waste land and this latter is (with the exception of a few hundred acres, scattered about in tiny patches) altogether barren and unculturable
22. I have unfortunately no time at present to discuss th gigantic question of *' how the general trade and commero of the district may be most effectually extended," and regard to the one particular branch of commerce in which the Association must be chiefly interested I have, I think, already nearly sufficiently taxed your patience. Let me however be again reminding you of the extreme difference both of climate and soil between these provinces and not only the Valley of the Mississippi but also the Southern and Central portions of India itself. New Orleans cotton whether cultivated according to American or Indian practice has hitherto succeeded but indifferently in these provinces, but who knows what success some combination of the two or some entirely new system of culture might lead to ? On the other hand supposing it to be proved impossible to bring the American variety to perfection here, it is by no means improbable that the African or still better the Egyptian might succeed. What is required is experience — an experi- mental farm carried on on a liberal scale under a really able and educated man for half a dozen years, would probably settle the matter as regards the cotton field of which Etawah is the natural centre. If the Association really wish for this experience, really desire to improve the quality and increase the quantity of cotton grown here and elsewhere — they must put their own shoulders to the wheel — give up memorializing Government, and do what they want done themselves — at their own expense. In the long run they will find it the cheapest and best plan.
I need hardly say that any agency of the nature suggested by me in my twelfth answer, would meet with my most willing support, and that I should be at all times ready to afford any advice or assistance that my long residence in this district and intimate acquaintance with its people rendered me qualified to give. I am, dear sir, Yours faithfully, A. O. Hume.
PS. — The Macarthy gins would be readily purchased here, if the people could be convinced that they answer. If one as a specimen were sent with full instructions as to use, and I could show them practically that it was a paying investment, there would be no difficulty I fancy in disposing of five hundred like it in a single year.
Note. — As ill-health compels me to go on leave for a few months any reply you may wish to send should be addressed to me by name to the care of the Magistrate and Collector, Etawah.