Malvaceae.) THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 91 
of its staple, is brought by a land-carriage of more than 500 miles from Ameraweti, a 
well-known mart in the Dukhun, situated about thirty miles south of the city of Elich- 
pore. The best cotton on the eastern side of India is now said to be grown in Guzerat, 
and that from Cutch is particularly fine in the staple, and well cleaned; but the finest 
is produced at a village near Manyrole, in Kattywar. The great improvement in the 
Tinnevelly cotton is well known, and owing to the introduction of foreign varieties, 
especially from the Isle of Bourbon. The Seychelle cotton should also be tried, as well 
as the different kinds which are produced in Siam, and the several islands of the Indian. 
Archipelago, as well as of the Pacific Ocean. That of Pernambuco appears particularly’ 
desirable, as it is said to improve the further it is carried into the interior. The Brazils 
and West-India Islands afford endless varieties; and the trials with the seed from 
Georgia and the Carolinas, as well as from Egypt, should be repeated in every part of 
India, but especially on the coast of Cutch, in Malwa, and in the north-western pro- 
vinces of India. With respect to the best mode of cultivation, it is unnecessary to enter 
into all the details, as they are given in works lately published available to every one, 
especially the Tropical Agriculturist, Captain Basil Hall’s Travels in America, Poiret Dict. 
des Sciences Naturelles, tom, xi.; but as it will be useful to contrast the principles with the 
"practice in India, I have made the following abstract, chiefly from the first-mentioned work. ' 
The soil best adapted for the cotton is a light and sandy soil, particularly if held 
together by a little clay or calcareous earth, and mixed with a small portion of vegetable 
matter ; but voleanic deposits are said to be the most favourable, and the banks of rivers 
which are overflowed, and become covered with mud. A moderate degree of moisture is 
essential, but too great aridity is injurious, and must be counteracted by irrigation; and 
as an excess of moisture induces the production of a profusion of leaves and flowers, . © 
though the latter fall off, and the roots rot, it must be obviated by drainage. No 
great depth of soil is required, but it ought to be light and friable, so that the delicate 
fibrils of the root may penetrate in every direction. The tap root of the perennial species 
should, however, be able to descend to some depth ; the sub-soil, therefore, should 
not be hard. Two or three ploughings are necessary to pulverize the earth, destroy all 
weeds, and expose every particle of soil to the atmosphere, and to light and heat. In 
China the soil is harrowed after each ploughing, and the latter is made twelve or fifteen 
inches deep. If the soil be barren or exhausted, manure suited to the nature of the 
soil is added, in China, after the last ploughing, and consists of mud from the bottom 
of ditches, ashes of all kinds, and oil-cakes. Previous to being sown, the seed is 
generally soaked in water: oil has been recommended for the purpose, but lime-water 
would be preferable. The sowing takes place in Georgia from November to April, in 
lines or furrows: the latter may be five feet apart. In America and the West-Indies, 
where the land has not been previously cleared, the practice is to fell and set fire to the 
timber, and dig holes for sowing the seed. These may vary in distance, but are often 
eighteen inches apart, and about as deep. From twelve to twenty or thirty seeds are 
N 2 sown 
