COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [Isx. SEASON. 



CHAP. 

 II. 



the Black land caked at the surface, whilst the Red land was 

 more open, and the water drained freely off. Here then the 

 plant suffered from the caked surface of the Black soil, and 

 profited by the free drainage of the Red soil. But during 

 the drought the plants were still sustained in the Black soil, 

 because moisture had been retained under the caking. When 

 the second rain fell, it ran off the caked Black soil, but 

 soaked the plants in the Red soil to an injurious extent : con- 

 sequently the plants now flourished in the Black land, but 

 drooped in the Red land. These observations are worth pre- 

 serving as illustration of the nature of the Cotton plant ; but 

 we shall ultimately see that the Black soil was considered 

 less fit than the Red for the American varieties. 



43 Results of the Season of 1841-42. -The results of the 

 Cotton experiment for this year may be gathered from 

 the following tabular abstract of the extent and quan- 

 tity of the produce of the Government Farms, as the 

 matter stood on the 1st of May 1842. 



