218 On the Persian Cotton Tree. 
lem, &c. furnish likewise a quantity of cotton, at 
least, equal to the European. 
CULTIVATION OF COTTON IN PERSIA, 
The annual cotton, or this last species of which 
we have treated more amply, is much cultivated in 
the northern or colder provinces of Persia, border- 
ing on the Caspian Sea (as the perennial is in the 
southern) and it is from thence that the seeds now 
sent to Portugal have been obtained through the 
Bucharian Tartar merchants, and are the production 
of the Gossypium herbaceum of Linneus, the 
Gossypium annuum of Pallas. It is sown in Per- 
sia from the end of March to the end of April, and 
reaped in September. This species requires a rich 
soil mixed with sand ; and, therefore, where the land 
is not rich enough, they manure it with cow or sheep 
dung: although we are told, that when the plants are 
once raised above the ground any species of soil 
will answer. The ground is worked in the spring, 
and the seeds are planted at the distance of eight or 
ten inches from one another, whilst care is taken to 
weed it to give air to the young plants. Dry sum- 
mers give the best crop, as rain is more particularly 
hurtful when it falls in great quantities during the 
flowering and ripening of the cotton. It is gather- 
ed, as said above, in September, care being always 
taken to collect a sufficient quantity of seed for 
