CULTIVATION 21 



holes, another to place four or five seeds in each hole, 

 and the third to cover up the seed with the soil. In 

 all the more important undertakings, however, 

 mechanical sowers are employed, by means of which 

 as many as twenty acres can be sown in one day. The 

 seeds are covered with an inch of soil or even with as 

 much as three inches if the land is subject to drought. 

 When a mechanical sower is not used, the seed is 

 covered by means of light hoes. From eight to fifteen 

 days after sowing the young plants begin to appear 

 above the ground. When they are about 3 or 4 

 inches high, the land requires weeding, and the 

 cultivating plough is brought into action. This 

 implement ploughs the ground only to a depth of 

 i or 2 inches, as deeper ploughing is liable to injure 

 the roots of the young cotton plants. After the 

 cultivator has passed up the rows, the ground around 

 the plants is cleaned with hoes. In wet weather 

 all the weeds lying on the surface are picked up by 

 hand and put in heaps at the ends of the rows, as 

 otherwise they would only be transplanted by the 

 cultivator or hoe. Weeding is most important, for 

 unless the weeds are removed the crop is liable to be 

 seriously injured. About a fortnight after the first 

 weeding, the ground is again cleaned and stirred by 

 means of the cultivator in order to break up the surface 

 crust that forms after rain. If rain is frequent, or 

 if weeds persist in growing, the cultivator must be 

 used more often. The plants are now thinned out 

 from each group, leaving only the strongest one in 

 each case, and fresh seeds are sown in places where 

 no plants have survived. A little soil is drawn up 

 round each plant. From this point onward very 

 little work is required. The surface of the ground 

 round the plants is raised by the various hoeings to a 

 height of 3 or 4 inches above the level of the ground 

 between the rows. It is now only necessary to break 

 the surface of the ground occasionally, and to remove 

 the few straggling weeds which have hitherto escaped. 

 The date at which cotton-picking commences 

 varies in different regions, but it is usually about the 

 middle of August. The season of harvest extends 



