COTTON. 41 



as well as its not being equally adapted to all soils, 

 afford perhaps sufficient reasons why it is not more 

 generally adopted. This species is cultivated in 

 China, but not in sufficient quantities for the home 

 consumption, as they import this article largely from 

 India*. 



The quantity of cotton which each plant yields is 

 as various as its quality. Accordingly, there are 

 scarcely two concurrent opinions to be collected on 

 this subject. The average produce per English acre 

 is reckoned by different writers at various quantities, 

 varying from one hundred and fifty to two hundred 

 and seventy pounds of picked cotton. 



The cotton-plant will grow in most situations and 

 soils, and is cultivated with very little trouble or 

 expense. According to Humboldt the larger spe- 

 cies, which attain to the magnitude of trees, require a 

 mean annual temperature of 68Fahr. ; the shrubby 

 kind may bs cultivated with success under a mean 

 temperature of 60 to 64, and may therefore be 

 propagated as far as latitude 40. This plant is 

 indeed cultivated in the neighbourhood of Astracan, 

 the latitude of which is 46. Some species flourish 

 best in the neighbourhood of the sea ; others again 

 are injured by this proximity. The Pernambuco 

 cotton, which is the finest in Brazil, is of the latter 

 kind, and the planters find that in proportion as they 

 recede from the coast the quality of the cotton is im- 

 proved ; they are, in consequence, every year pene- 

 trating more into the interior, and they always obtain 

 a ready market for their produce, as the dealers 

 follow their footsteps and settle where they settle f. 



Open situations and a strong soil moderately dry 

 and warm are most congenial to some species, while 

 others thrive better in a moist and deep soil. 



In selecting seed for a plantation, therefore, care 

 * Staunton's Embassy to China. f Roster's Brazil. 



E 3 



