1842-13.] DR. WIGHT AND AMEEIOAU PLANTERS. 39 



the seeoDd season had taken place in Nov., 184S. 

 August and early in September; but a (S)?^*360. 

 small portion was sown as early as July, 

 and some as late as October. The season proved un- 

 favourable, in consequence of a heavy fall of rain in 

 April, in the height of the gathering season. Prior 

 to this storm the appearance of the plant on the dif- 

 ferent soils was as follows. On the Black lands it 

 was generally small. On the Eed land it was large 

 and very healthy where the soil retained moisture, 

 but small where the soil was thin and dried quickly. 

 On the Alluvial lands the plants grew luxuriantly 

 where the soil was high and drainage sufficient, but 

 did not thrive where the soil was low and retentive 

 of moisture. In April the weather became stormy, 

 and a series of rains commenced which lasted a week. 

 These storms not only destroyed the Cotton ready 

 for picking, but also the crop which was maturing. 

 Indeed within a week or ten days after the rains, 

 whole fields were covered with blackened and half- 

 opened bolls, with their contents agglutinated into a 

 dark brownish decayed mass. The plants, however, 

 continued healthy, and began to produce a good crop 

 of flowers. They were therefore permitted to remain 

 a few months longer, by which means a second crop 

 was obtained from the Bed lands. 



Comparison of the growth of the Indian, Xew Or- 56 

 leans, and Bourbon Cotton. — The Indian Cotton plant, 

 according to Dr. Wight, is of slower growth than the 

 American, and takes a deeper root. Consequently, 

 this species is not so much aflfected by the heat and 

 drought, until the soil becomes so far cracked as to 

 allow of evaporation from the deeper strata, and thus 

 serves to exhaust the stores of nourishment on which 

 the plant had previously subsisted. The Indian Cotton 

 therefore thrives well on the Black lands, which possess 

 a wet or tenacious sub-soil, but which at the same 

 time readUy throws off its surface moisture. The 

 American Cotton, not penetrating so deeply into the 

 soil, thrives best on the low-lying portions of the Eed 

 land, towards which the moisture of the upper ones is 



