184243.] DR. WIGHT ON AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 39 



3rd. Alluvial land, composed of clay and sand, which CHAP. 

 had formerly been under cultivation, but which had been - 

 lying waste for many years, probably from having attained 

 so high a level as to render irrigation difficult. 



Distribution of soil amongst the four Farms: 43 

 method of cultivation. These varieties of soil were thus ~ 



JDr. Wight s 



distributed. Dr. Wight and Mr. Sherman's Farm at Coor- Sift?" 1 ' 

 chee chiefly consisted of Alluvial land ; Dr. Wight's Farm ffio| 7) p * 

 at Coimbatore of Red land ; whilst Mr. Simpson's Farm at 

 Coimbatore, and Mr. Morris' Farm at Oodoomulcottah, were 

 chiefly composed of Black Cotton land, though both 

 included a small portion of Red land. About this time 

 Lord Elphinstone requested Dr. Wight to draw up some 

 Notes on the A merican system of agriculture. These Notes 

 are by no means complete in themselves, but they are valu- 

 able as illustrating the stage afc which the Cotton experi- 

 ment had arrived. Accordingly the substance is here exhi- 

 bited in a classified form ; but the practical reader will do 

 well to compare them with other results, and especially 

 with the more matured observations of Dr. Wight and Mr. 

 Finnic, which will be found in other paras of the present 

 volume.* 



DR. WIGHT'S NOTES ON AMERICAN COTTON CULTURE AS 

 PRACTISED ON THE GOVERNMENT COTTON FARMS. 



Drill husbandry : land ploughed and cast in rid- 49 

 ges, eight or ten inches high, at intervals of about 

 five feet. The American system of Cotton agriculture is 

 simply Drill husbandry. The ground is ploughed and cast 



* For Mr. Wroughton's Remarks on the cultivation of American Cotton 

 in India, see paras 67-74. For Dr. Wight's "Notes on the Habits of the Ame- 

 rican plant, and their adaptation to the seasons of India," see paras 92-118. 

 For Mr. Finnie's " Notes on Cotton Cultivation in America and India," 

 see paras 143-160. For Mr. Finnie's "Notes on the peculari ties of the 

 Cotton trade in Tinnevelly," see paras 175-178. For Dr. Wight's Final 

 Report, see paras 263-281. As regards Bourbon Cotton, see Mr. Hughes's 

 instructions to Mr. Heath, para 34, note. 



