274 



and Guzerat, the red soil of the Berars in fact, 

 all loamy and even sandy soils will be found 

 suitable for the cultivation of cotton. Too rich 

 soils are apt to make crops run into stalks and 

 leaves, and should therefore be avoided, as well 

 as stiff, clayey, and damp soils. 



The land should have a deep trench, so as to 

 drain off all stagnant water, which has been found 

 to vitally injure the plant. 



Preparation of the Soil. The species "Gossy- 

 pium" belongs to those kinds of plants which, in 

 addition to their lateral rootlets, have top-roots that 

 penetrate, according to the nature of the soil, more 

 or less deeply into the subsoil. It is essential, 

 therefore, to prepare the soil with due regard to 

 this peculiarity. 



Deep-ploughing, more or less advantageous for all 

 crops, is eminently so for the cultivation of cotton, 

 favouring, as it does, the development of the top- 

 roots. In one of the very first reports Mr. Eivett- 

 Carnac submitted on the model-farms in the Berars, 

 we are told that the combined effect of deep- 

 ploughing and careful selection of seed was in one 

 case an outturn of 255 Ibs. of clean cotton to the 

 acre. He proceeds to say " The case was, it is 

 true, an exceptional one, as the soil of the field in 

 which the crop was sown was superior to the ordi- 

 nary run of the cotton-growing tracts. But, from' 

 ordinary fields in the farm, during this, an unfavor- 



