ABSTRACT
Mr. Thomas had worked under E. W. Sampson, to whom was due the chief credit of the work on cotton previously done by the Madras Department, and whom he admired greatly. Pulichai was an introduction from Bengal; it is not known how it came to Tirunelveli, but it spread more and more as a mixture with native seed. As a rule, Indian agriculture is essentially subsistence agriculture, villages consume most of what they produce and sell the surplus chiefly to pay their dues to moneylenders, landlords and the Government, and only secondarily to buy goods from outside for themselves. But the Tirunelveli riot in the dry cotton area devotes most of his land and labour to the production of his commercial crop, and is much more a man of business than his fellows on other soils. Various exotic cotton plants came to the Koilpatti station, and were planted in the office compound to take their chance, including one specimen from Cambodia.
