228 COTTON IN. THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [cHAP. Tt. 



over this ; and by some irrigation is said not to answer, 

 producing leaves but not Cotton. 



358 • Seed used and whence obtained. — Tbe seed of the 

 Native Oopum Cotton is kept by the Natives from the 

 last crop, and sown in the following season. The seed 

 is not separated from the Cotton till the sowing time, 

 or it loses its germinating power. The New Orleans, 

 Bourbon, Mexican, &c. seed used in the late Experi- 

 mental Farm, was obtained by G-overnment from Eng- 

 land, or brought out by the American Planters formerly 

 engaged on the Farm here. New Orleans seed of the 

 ninth generation in this country produced excellent 

 crops ; and the American plant has been cultivated in 

 this district from the same seed for eleven years, with- 

 out apparent deterioration in the quality of either the 

 Cotton or seed produced.* 



359 Character of the Cotton plant. — " The Oopum is a 

 small plant, seldom exceeding five feet in height, gene- 

 rally less, and wears the appearance of a degenerated 

 species. Its branches have not the same lateral spread 

 as the exotic kinds. The Bourbon also averages from 

 two to three feet in height, but the branches extend 

 almost as far laterally. The plants are low, depressed, 

 crooked, and as it were stunted. The New Orleans 

 variety, if left untrimmed, shoots up to nearly six feet 

 in height. In the field it averages about four feet ; 

 the branches are longer and thinner than the preceding 

 species, with more of an upward than a lateral direc- 

 tion. A bush four feet high and trimmed wiU measure 

 nearly as much in spread. Two hundred pods have 

 been counted on a single bush, the stem often equals a 

 man's finger in thickness, and it is the only description 

 cultivated here, that at all approaches a tree. Erom a 

 foot to. eighteen inches is left between the plants, but 

 if the growth is vigorous not less than an average dis- 

 tance of eighteen inches should be allowed. In 

 moderately fertile and high and dry lands, from two 

 and a half to three feet between the rows is enough • 



* This fact has been disputed. See General Eesults at the con- 

 clusion of the present chapter, para. 372. 



