396 COTTON-CULTIVATION. Cbap. XXIV. 



be compared with similar observations taken in Dharwar ; and 

 thus the localities may be ascertained where the American 

 cotton can be advantageously cultivated, so far at least as 

 this depends on the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. 

 The supply of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere, at any 

 period of the year, diminishes as we recede from the coast ; 

 but, having once found a centre where the American plant 

 can be profitably raised, in Dharwar, it is advisable to work 

 from that centre, especially in a south-eastern and southerly 

 direction. This spread of the gro"\vth of American cotton has 

 ali-eady taken place to the eastward of Dharwar, to a con- 

 siderable extent. The people in the Bellary district, and in 

 neighbouring parts of the Nizam's territory, have for some 

 years grown cotton from American seeds, and value it more 

 highly than their native species. 



In Coimbatore, where scorching hot dry winds parch up 

 the plains during part of the year, and where the rainfall 

 varies so much in different seasons,^ sometimes being thhty 

 inches, and at others only seven inches, it is perhaps doubt- 

 ful whether it will ever answer to cultivate American cotton 

 on a large scale, yet excellent samples were obtained from 

 cotton raised on the farms, under the superintendence of Dr. 

 Wight. The attention of 8ir William Denison, the present 

 Governor of Madras, has been chiefly directed to the improve- 

 ment of native cotton, by increasing the length of the staple, 

 and lessening the coarseness of the fibre. It is a well-estab- 

 lished fact that " the best seeds make the best breeds," ^ and 



8 " The district of Coimbatore lies in the district, cause tlie monsoou 

 opposite the great gap in the Peniu- : wind to pass over without depositing 

 sular chain between the soutliern mucli of its moisture ; and, tiiough the 

 slopes of the Nilgiri mountains, and ^ climate is humid, the rainfall is very 

 the northern face of those of Travan- ) trifling. During the N.E. monsoon 

 cor. Across this depression the S.W. j the hills of Salem intercept the mois- 

 monsoon has almost a free passage to ture." — Hooker s F/oraJn^/co, i. p. 132. 

 the eastward ; but the great elevation '■• Liudleys Theory and Practice of 

 of the mountains on both sides, and Horticulture, p. 487. 

 the absence of anv considerable hills 



