IN EXTRA -TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 



153 



Cotton plants have a predilection for gently undulating or sloping 

 ground, with light soil and a moderate supply of moisture. In 

 the most favourable climes, such as that of Fiji, cotton produces 

 flowers and fruits throughout the year, but the principal ripening 

 falls in the dry season. From two hundred to three hundred 

 plants or more can be placed on an acre. As many as seven 

 hundred pods have been gathered from a single plant at one time, 

 twelve to twenty capsules yielding an ounce of mercantile cotton. 

 Weeding is rendered less onerous by the vigorous growth of the 

 plants. Cotton comes well in for rotation of crops. Major 

 Clarke has ascertained that crossing cannot be effected between the 

 oriental and occidental kinds of cotton. A high summer tempera- 

 ture is needed for a prolific cotton harvest. Intense heat, under 

 which even maize will suffer, does not injuriously affect cotton, 

 provided the atmosphere is not dry in the extreme. The soil 

 should not be wet, but of a kind that naturally a,bsorbs and retains 

 humidity, without over-saturation. In arid regions it is necessary 

 to irrigate the cotton plant. Heavy rains at the ripening period 

 are injurious, if not destructive, to the cotton crop. Dry years 

 produce the best returns, yet aqueous vapour in the air is necessary 

 for the best yield. In colder localities the balls or capsules con- 

 tinue to ripen after the frosts prevent the formation of new ones. 

 Porous soils resting on limestones and metamorphic rocks are 

 eminently adapted for cotton culture. The canebrake soil of the 

 North American cotton regions absorbs ammonia to a prodigious 

 extent. 



Gourliaea decorticans, Grisebach. 



The Chanar of Argentina. Bears sweet pleasant fruits and yields 

 a tough valuable wood (Dr. Lorentz). 



Grevillea annulifera, F. v. Mueller. 



West Australia. A tall bush or small tree, with highly ornamental 

 flowers. The seeds are comparatively large, of almond taste, and 

 the fruits produced copiously. The shrub will live in absolute 

 desert sands, where the other Australian proteaceous Nut-tree 

 Brabejum (Macadamia) ternifolium could not exist. 



Grevillea robusta, Cunningham. 



A beautiful Lawn-tree, indigenous to the sub-tropical part of 

 East Australia, 150 feet high, of rather rapid growth, and resisting 

 drought in a remarkable degree ; hence one of the most eligible 

 trees for desert culture. Cultivated trees at Melbourne yield now an 

 ample supply of seeds. The wood is elastic and durable, valued 

 particularly for staves of casks. 



