1853 62.] CENTRAL TABLE-LAND : FIVE DISTRICTS. 



plants. The root of the Cotton plant shoots down perpen- CHAP, 

 dicularly to the distance of eight inches, and the plant is de- ' 

 pendent upon one tap root, from which others diverge. 

 Should this be destroyed, the plant dies. 



Mode of cultivation, time of flowering, weight of 350 

 Cotton wool per acre, etc, " The land having been pre- 

 viously prepared, the seeds are sown in drills in the month of 

 September, about twelve inches from each other. The night 

 prior to sowing, they are saturated in a solution of fresh 

 cow-dung and water; they germinate on the fourth day. Af- 

 ter attaining a height of eight or twelve inches, labourers are 

 employed in clearing away the weeds, and often in sowing 

 grain between the plants. After the lands have been tho- 

 roughly cleared, and when the hot weather is approaching, the 

 plough is run through the drills, and the roots of the plant 

 are banked up. The plant commences to flower about the 

 fourth month, that is, about January and February, as the 

 time of sowing may be ; and the produce is gathered in the 

 months of March and April. There are four pickings ; the 

 first and the fourth are the least ; and the second and third 

 the most productive. The average produce per acre may be 

 stated to be eight maunds or 200 Ibs., and the ginned Cotton 

 50 Ibs. 



Manure. " Manure is not in general used for growing 351 

 Cotton. It is made use of when jonna is sown, which is much 

 more remunerative ; and as jonna ought not to be grown 

 two successive years on the same land, Cotton is substituted. 

 The Cotton stalks are cut and used as fuel ; sometimes they 

 are placed with earth over them, as a protection to walls [of 

 houses] from the monsoon rains. 



Diseases. " Cotton plants when weakened by unsea- 352 

 sonable rains, suffer from the effects of a mildew, which covers 



the green leaf with white spots, and then the plant being 



H 1 



