ON THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON IN BRITISH GUIANA. 243 



was to be planted, it was customary " to warp," or to sink the land under 

 sea-water, which could be done in a few minutes, by making a small cut in 

 the sea-dam, or by opening the sluices as the tide rose. After a time, as 

 soon as the rich alluvial deposit with which our sea-water is charged, had 

 settled down on the land, the water was allowed to run off, and another 

 supply taken in. This was repeated occasionally ; so that, at the end of 

 three or four months, when the water was finally drawn off, not only were 

 all the weeds and underwood destroyed, but there was a fine rich loam left 

 on the land to the depth of two or three inches, and fit to grow any- 

 thing. 



The drains and water-courses having been cleared out, the next thing 

 was to sow the seed. This was usually done early in April, so as to get 

 the showers of that month on the young plants, and to have them suffi- 

 ciently strong to bear the rains in June. The way we planted was this : 

 a piece of rope, about one hundred feet long was laid down at one end of 

 the field ; along this rope, at regular distances of six feet, small bits of 

 coloured rag were tied, and at each piece of rag stood a woman with her 

 apron full of cotton seed and armed with a hoe. Two men then each took an 

 end of the rope, and stretching it across the field, marched forward exactly 

 six feet, and then stopped, when the women, each opposite her own rag, 

 made one dig at the ground with her hoe, dropped in about a dozen seeds, 

 and lightly covered them over. The two men went on with their line six 

 feet further, the women followed — and so they planted away till the field 

 was completed — the result being, that when the plants came up, they 

 were six feet apart from each other either way, and as regularly and beau- 

 tifully set as if they had been put in by rule and square. They grew very 

 fast, and in about three weeks or a month were five or six inches high, and 

 thickly clustered together, as nearly every seed had come up. 



The women then went back again and " singled " the young plants — that 

 is they pulled up and threw away all except two or three of the strongest- 

 looking. In another month these were twelve to eighteen inches high, 

 when the singling process was repeated ; but this time only one plant 

 was allowed to remain in the spot where it was first planted. They were 

 carefully moulded up and kept clear of weeds, and all bottom shoots or 

 " water sprouts " were broken off till the end of July, when the shrubs, 

 being about five feet high, became covered with bright yellow blossoms, 

 not unlike those of the hollyhock. After this, it was not allowable to go 

 through the fields for any purpose, as the buds and blossoms might be 

 broken off. The cotton flower soon faded, and was succeeded by the pod 

 or fruit, about the size of a small apricot, and somewhat pointed in shape. 

 By the middle of September, the fine dry weather had ripened these, and 

 the shell burst into three parts, from which hung the white wool. This it 

 was necessary to gather at once, before even a shower had wet it, or before 

 the wind had blown it out, and scattered it over the ground. This " blow 

 of cotton," which was called the first crop, continued in succession till 

 Christmas — the harvest time — when everybody turned out to gather the 



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