THE TECHNOLOGIST. [May 1, 1865. 



432 THE CULTURE OP COTTON IN 



whereof the 30 seeds weighed 75 grs., and the cotton alone 54 grs., or nearly 

 42 per cent, of the gross weight* 



Obs. — This cotton is generally considered to require from 9 to 10 

 months to mature its first crop. We have seen in Mr. Garland's experi- 

 ment that in 236 days from the time of sowing the seed, the first pods 

 were ripe ; hut as they ripen in slow succession — the lowest on a branch- 

 let first — at least three months elapse before the harvest is completely 

 gathered in. Afterwards the trees produce every six months, the two 

 crops being called by the natives the consecha de la Natividad (Christmas), 

 and the consecha de San Juan, both epochs a few days after the solstices ; 

 but in reality the plants are often only in flower at those dates, and the 

 actual harvest begins at least a month later, so that Mr, Duvall is nearer 

 the mark when he assigns the equinoxes as the period of maturity. In 

 1863 very few pods were ripe, even in September, but the following crop 

 began to come on in January. On some trees odd capsules may be seen 

 ripening all the year round. A similar perpetual production is observ- 

 able in the Amazon region, but there the cotton that ripens in the rainy 

 season is almost certain to be wasted ; I have, indeed, seen a crop beaten 

 down to the earth by a single heavy rain. 



The first crop of the Piura cotton is small, rarely so much as a pound 

 per plant, but under favourable circumstances succeeding crops become 

 far more productive. When from two to three years old, good plants 

 have yielded in one crop from 8 to 12 lbs. of clean cotton, and at Monte 

 Abierto there was some large old plants on the vega which I was 

 assured had in one season yielded as much as 50 lbs. of seed cotton, or 

 18 lbs. of clean cotton each. Latterly there have been so many bad 

 seasons that crops like these have become excessively rare, and I have 

 not myself had the pleasure of seeing any such. 



The plants usually stand about 15 feet apart, kidney beans or some 

 other annual crop being raised in the interspaces the first year, and 

 sometimes the second also. In three or four years, if the plants have 

 prospered, they already begin to interlock. From the fifth year the 

 yield degenerates in quantity and quality, so that, at the sixth or seventh 

 year, the bushes are generally stubbed up and the ground resown. 



Taking the plants at 15 feet apart would give 193 plants to the 

 English acre, and if each of those plants be assumed to yield every half- 

 year from 8 to 12 lbs of clean cotton, that gives from 1,544 lbs. to 

 2,316 lbs. for the acre ; certainly a very fine cron, even at the lowest 

 figure cited. Unfortunately, such crops are now almost unknown. 



The cotton, known in the market as Payta cotton, has always been 

 much esteemed, and has fetched good prices in England. It is very 

 white and soft, with a fair length of staple, and the yellowish stains it 



* The pods of this and other kinds selected for weighing were of average size, 

 and perfect in all their cells. It will be understood that the percentage of cotton 

 obtained by ginning is rather less than that given here, because a little cotton is 

 always wasted in that process. 



