250 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [1853 62. 



CHAP, thus weakened is speedily attacked by insects, grasshoppers, 



L_ etc., and destroyed. Another species of blight causes honey 



dew to exude from the plant, which greatly weakens it. Tn 

 January, should there be cloudy weather and rain whilst the 

 pods are forming, they are very liable to drop off and the 

 produce to be injured. 



353 (4) Salem : Messrs. Fischer and Co., the only ex- 

 Letter of porters, The Cotton lands under cultivation in this Dis- 

 Hth B Dec! trict are rather more than 15,000 acres. Messrs. Fischer and 



Co., are the only persons in the District, who buy Cotton for 

 Para. as. exportation, and the views of Mr. Fischer upon the subject 

 have already been exhibited. The Collector adds that good 

 roads intersect the District in all directions, and that the 

 lands on which the Cotton is chiefly grown are for the most 

 part within twenty-five or thirty miles of the South Western 

 Railway. 



354 (51 Coimbatore : detailed report of Mr. Thomas, 



the Collector In this important District, the scene of 

 of Dr. Wight's labours, up wards of 120,000 acres are under Cot- 

 ton cultivation. The report of Mr. Thomas in reply to Pro- 

 Mr Tho- f essor Mallett's application, is rather lengthy, but exhibits 

 t* >s isth so many plain and practical details, that it has been expe- 

 )ec. 1857. j. ent J. Q p r nt ft ^ n ex fc ens0j m erely omitting certain data which 



have already been exhibited so prominently in the summa- 

 ry of Dr. Wight's reports, as to require no repetition here. 



355 Soil : Black, Red, and Alluvium. " The soils on which 

 Cotton is grown in this district are as follows. 1. Black Cot- 

 ton soil (also called Regur) a formation said to be peculiar to 

 India. Its component parts seem as yet doubtful. 2. Bed soil, 

 formed from disintegrated granite, with a large ad- 

 mixture of sand. 3. Alluvium of sand and loam, very 

 light and mixed with much kunkur limestone. The stiffer 

 clayey soils do not answer well, being liable to bake and 



