5 49 AMERICAN PLANT IN INDIAN SEASONS. 67 



2nd, Low Alluvial soils had proved a failure, but CHAP. 

 low lands near the Coast were under trial. As re- __ _L_ 



garded the length and silkiness of the staple Dr. Wight ad- ^ 

 mitted that the change was produced by the soil. Native 

 Cotton dealers had long been aware of the fact, that Indian 

 Cotton grown on Black land, had a longer and finer staple 

 than when grown on Red gravelly soil. But still American 

 Cotton had been more successfully cultivated on the Red 

 than on the Black soil. Dr. Wight however had tried the 

 low Alluvial lands, as more nearly resembling the best Ame- 

 rican soils than either Black clays or Red gravel. The re- 

 sult established the theory but not the practice. The Cot- 

 ton produced was of excellent quality, but the yield was 

 very uncertain ; as a shower of rain, which would fall inno- 

 cuous upon Cotton growing on a dry soil, would deteriorate 

 half the crop on a low Alluvial. As regarded the cultivation 

 of lands near the Coast, Dr. Wight coincided in the view 

 taken by the Association, and reported that the experiment 

 was in progress ; Mr. Finnie, the planter, having been located 

 in the centre of Tinnevelly, which was one of the best Cot- 

 ton districts in the South of India, and within about forty 

 miles of the eastern shore. 



DR. WIGHT'S NOTES ON THE ADAPTATION OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN PLANT TO THE SEASONS OF INDIA. 



Habits of the American Plant. Some time after- 95 

 wards, Dr. Wight entered more largely upon the subject of 



adapting the time of sowing; in Southern India to the ha- 2?th s'ept. 



1847 Parl 



bits of the American plant. Three things were to be ob- Return 



(1857) p. 



served : 167 



1st, That in average seasons, the New Orleans Cotton plant 

 requires from six to eight weeks from the date of sowing to 

 that of coming into flower ; and about the same length of 

 time from the fall of the blossom to the opening of the pod, 



