188 COTTON IS THE MADBAS PEESIDENOT. [CHAP. T. 



several of the most useful varieties of foreign Cotton ; 

 particularly the Mexican or New Orleans, the Sea 

 Island, the Egyptian, and the Brazilian or Pernambuco. 

 The three last are long-stapled Cottons, and fetch high 

 prices in the English market. My remarks however 

 will be less explicit, as I have seen but little of the 

 coast experiment, which is stiU in its infancy, and 

 which has laboured under considerable disadvantage, 

 from being conducted by gentlemen but little con- 

 versant with agricultural affairs. 



280 Partial success of Mr. David Lees on the sandy 

 coast lands of Tinnevelly: error as regards deep 

 sowing. — The cultivation of American Cotton by Mr^ 

 David Lees, on the sandy coast lands of Tinnevelly, 

 has proved only partially successful ; for whUst Mr. 

 Lees was a warm and sanguine advocate of the experi- 

 ment, he was unfortunately an unskilful agriculturist. 

 He desired to modify the cultivation by deep sowing ; 

 and feeling dissatisfied at the results of sowing the 

 seed three inches under the surface, he gave directions 

 for sowing it still deeper. This modification was 

 founded on an erroneous deduction, and its practice 

 has already been found to do harm. Cotton ought 

 not to be sown deeper than one or two inches. What 

 is required is a light loose soil, into which its slender 

 tap root can easily penetrate ; and when that is secured, 

 the nearer the seed lies to the surface the better. 

 Nature sows entirely on the surface, and ordains that 

 the root shall descend and the stem ascend. Loose 

 soil and light covering promote both these ends, and 

 are more likely to increase than to diminish the pro- 

 duce ; and indeed, unless the former of these conditions 

 be secured, and maintained by occasional hoeing and 

 ploughing between the rows, the plant does not thrive. 

 The roots, in short, of a healthy growing plant require 

 the free access of the air, almost as much as the leaves 

 require light ; and unless they have it, the plant be- 

 comes more or less sickly. 



281 Sandy soils along the Coromandel Coast adapted to 

 the cultivation of American Cotton. — But whilst the 



