1842 43.] DR. WIGHT AND AMERICAN PLANTERS. 43 



quickly. On the Alluvial lands the plants grew luxuriantly CHAP. 



where the soil was high and drainage sufficient, but did not 



thrive where the soil was low and retentive of moisture. 

 In April the weather became stormy, and a series of rains 

 commenced which lasted a week. These storms not only 

 destroyed the Cotton ready for picking, but also the crop 

 which was maturing. Indeed within a week or ten days 

 after the rains, whole fields were covered with blackened 

 and half opened bolls, with their contents agglutinated into 

 a dark brownish decayed mass. The plants however con- 

 tinued healthy, and began to produce a good crop of flowers. 

 They were therefore permitted to remain a few months 

 longer, by which means a second crop was obtained from 

 the Red lands. 



Comparison of the growth of the Indian, New Or- 56 

 leans, and Bourbon Cotton. The Indian Cotton plant, 

 according to Dr. Wight, is of slower growth than the Ame- 

 rican, and takes a deeper root. Consequently, this species 

 is not so much affected by the heat and drought, until the 

 soil becomes so far cracked as to allow of evaporation from 

 the deeper strata, and thus serves to exhaust the stores of 

 nourishment on which the plant had previously subsisted. 

 The Indian Cotton therefore thrives well on the Black 

 lands, which possess a wet or tenacious sub soil, but which 

 at the same time readily throws off its surface moisture. 

 The American Cotton, not penetrating so deeply into the 

 soil, thrives best on the low lying portions of the Red land, 

 towards which the moisture of the upper ones is drawn ; 

 and again it thrives well in the Alluvial soils, which from 

 their position are naturally loaded with moisture.* The 

 Bourbon again takes very deep root, and bears the climate 

 even better than the Indian plant. 



This opinion was subsequently modified. The excessive moisture was 

 found to stimulate the growth of the stem, branches, and leaves, at the ex- 

 pense of the flowers, fruit, and seed. See para 94. 



