92 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY:OF [ Malvaceae. 
sown in each hole, as soon as possible after ploughing, digging, or hoeing, and are 
covered with one or one and a-half inch of soil. The most important operation is 
weeding ; this is repeated every eight or ten days in China, until the bushes put forth 
blossom, and every month in Guiana; it ought to be carefully performed so as not to 
injure the young fibrils; it is useful not only in removing weeds, but also in turning up 
the soil. When plants are three or four inches high, all, except three or four in each 
hole, are pulled up; at the end of the third month, all the plants but one are withdrawn; 
in Georgia, after a month, six or seven are left in each hole; at next hoeing, only one, 
or the two which are most apart. When the remaining plant is eighteen or twenty-four 
inches high, only twelve inches in China, the top is pinched off, that the lateral 
branches may shoot out, which, after a time, are treated in the same manner to favour 
the formation of flower and fruit. This process is objected to by Von Rohr. The 
blossom generally appears about the end of July, or beginning of August; pods open 
about six weeks after the blossom, and the crops begin in September, both in Georgia 
and Guiana; but most of the cotton is ready about the middle of October, and the 
whole of the first crop is not got in before the end of December in Guiana; when as in 
India, Christmas rains occur; the plants afterwards sprout out new shoots and blossoms, 
and about the end of February the picking may be resumed, and continued to the middle 
of April. The ground is carefully weeded between the crops; women and children are 
employed in picking the cotton out of the pods, and as moisture is injurious, the 
gathering is not commenced until the dew is dissipated; and as the pods ripen in 
succession, it is repeated at short intervals; the cotton is then sorted, that which had 
fallen on the ground is kept separate, the whole cleaned, and then dried in the sun: 
this hardens the seeds, and enables them to separate more easily from the cotton, and is 
moreover useful in preventing the latter spoiling from heating. If left too long on the 
plant, the withered leaves and calyx become mixed with the cotton, as is so frequently 
the casein India. et ad Josh wae ai otesisasy ver tox radii 
InGuiana the perennial cotton produces a full crop the second year, and remains pro- 
ductive for four or six years.. In China it is kept only three years; young plants are put 
in wherever deficiencies occur. -In Guiana the pruning of the perennial cotton-plant 
takes place in the second year of its growth, after the whole of the produce is gathered 
in. May is considered the most favourable month, when the trees are cut to about four 
feet high, premising with a good weeding of the ground. . Dry weather and the early 
part of the day are recommended, that the sun may. dry up the wounds. : ; 
In addition to the cultivation, it will be interesting to be able to compare the expenses 
in different countries. In the West Indies, Mr. Edwards states that each able-bodied 
labourer can perform a task equal to the cultivation of five acres; anda plantation is 
considered capable of yielding 1,000 pounds of merchantable cotton for each able-bodied 
labourer employed. In Georgia it is calculated that the usual expenses on the cultiva- - 
tion of cotton are twopence halfpenny a-pound on the produce, but in the West-Indies, 
owing 
