184549.] AMERICAN PLANT IN INDIAN SEASONS. "78 



required very little rain when it was once well above ground. 6HA. P. 



Consequently ifc was desirable to avoid the heavy rains of 



the South-west monsoon, when those of the North-east were 

 quite sufficient By sowing in July and August the plant 

 escaped the heavy rains of the South-west monsoon, and 

 partook of the lighter rains of the North-east. Whereas by 

 sowing earlier, the South-west monsoon brought the plants 

 into full bearing just at the setting in of the North-east mon- 

 soon, which injured all the pods just as they were ready to 

 burst. On the whole, Dr. Wight was not at this period 

 very favorably disposed towards localities enjoying the be- 

 nefits of both monsoons. He anticipated more certain ad- 

 vantages from lands nearer the coast ; which were subject 

 to one monsoon only, and which therefore did not perplex 

 the grower by compelling him to adjust his operations, so as ' 

 to avail himself of a double series of insufficient rains in the 

 place of one ample monsoon. 



Large experiment in early sowing throughout the 105 

 Cotton Districts in the Madras Presidency. The ex- 

 periment of sowing the seed of American Cotton in the early J^ rns the 

 spring rains, had been so strongly urged by the Manchester ^ e r r a s 1Col ~ 

 Association, and had been so strongly approved by the Court {^n (iS?j 

 of Directors, that notwithstanding the experience of former p ' p ' 

 trials, Dr. WighC did not hesitate to try the experiment on 

 the largest possible scale. Accordingly, American seed was 

 distributed to the Collectors at all the Cotton growing dis- 

 tricts throughout the Madras Presidency, and again distri- 

 buted by them to Native cultivators in the different talooks. 

 The results induced Dr. Wight to regard this experiment as Dr. wight's 



letter, 26th. 



the most instructive that had ever been made ; and one J*- 18 R ^- 

 which led to a far better knowledge of the principles of the p"'" 

 culture of the American Cotton plant in India than had then 

 been attained. 



First Result : Zndia not too hot, but too cold. The 106 

 experiment of sowing in May was tried over a wide extent 



