80 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [184549. 



CHAP soils an interval of five feet is not too much ; as under such 

 ' circumstances the bushes will still fill the ground, for the 

 plant is a very strong growing one, and unless it has plenty 

 of room the crop blights. 



117 5th, Treatment of the plant as an annual and ro- 

 tation of crops. The last point to which Dr. Wight drew 

 attention, was the fact that the experiment of treating the 

 plant as a biennial, already noticed, had uniformly failed ; 



Para 64. ^at nowever promising in appearance the second years 

 plants might be, he had never succeeded in obtaining a really 

 good crop off the same bushes. He would therefore always 

 recommend the plan of cultivating the New Orleans Cotton 

 plant is an annual. Again, as regards rotation of crops, he 

 would recommend that the same land should never be sown 

 oftener than every third or fourth year, as the foreign Cot- 

 ton seems to be a very exhausting crop. 



118 Profitable cultivation of American Cotton through- 

 s out tne Peninsula. The final results of Dr. Wight's ex- 



j e a n? r 'i849. perience in 1849, may thus be summed up in a few words. 



turn' (1857) He considered that, under the guidance of the principles al- 

 ready laid down to suit particular localities, the cultivation 

 of American Cotton might be successfully carried on through- 

 out the Peninsula, excepting perhaps on the high table lands 

 where the climate is too cold. 



M !) Plans for extending the American Cotton Culture 



amongst the Ryots, 1845-49. Before concluding the 

 present Chapter, it will be necessary to glance at the efforts 

 which had been made to introduce American Cotton and 

 American cultivation amongst the Kyots. It has already 

 been seen that prior to removing his Farms in 1845, Dr. 

 Wight had endeavoured to extend the cultivation of American 

 Cotton amongst the Ryots, partly by distributing American 



