THE TECHNOLOGIST. [May 1, 1865. 



434 THE CULTURE OF COTTON IN 



The contents of a h-celled capsule weighed 153 grs. — viz., 44 seeds, 102 

 (jrs. ,■ cotton 51 grs. ; or 33^- per cent, of gross weiglit. 



Obs. — This kind is readily distinguished by its humbler size, its 

 small flat grey-green leaves, cloven only about halfway into 3 (very 

 rarely 5) lobes, its nearly white flowers, by its pods being very frequently 

 5-celled, and then much rounder than in any of the other varieties, and 

 by the densely fuzzy seeds. When the leading shoot is broken off, the 

 branches spread horizontally, and the lowest, when laden with ripe pods, 

 often trail on the ground and even bury the pods therein, which would 

 be a great disadvantage in a rainy country ; but in this dry region only 

 a little loose dust gets into the cotton when the capsules burst, and it is 

 got rid of in the ginning. 



Of all the cottons which have been tried in the valley of the Chira, 

 this has proved by far the best adapted to the ejimate and soil, and is 

 apparently much less susceptible to blight, or heladas. It is a small 

 plant and so takes up but little room, and it ripens its first crop in less 

 than five months ; yet each plant gives as much cotton as any other kind 

 at the same age. Mr. Garland had an experimental plot made of it, of 

 about two acres, close by his house, where its progress could easily be 

 watched. The rows were made only 6 feet apart, and the seeds put in 

 at the same or even a less distance. Having been sown on the 14th of 

 March, the first pods were ripe at the end of July, or in A\ months, but 

 the whole crop was not gathered in until the end of November, when 

 it produced 12 quintals of clean cotton, or 600 lbs. to the acre. Scarcely 

 another month had elapsed when an after crop came on, which was 

 picked during my stay at Monte Abierto in December and January, and 

 would yield, perhaps, a couple of quintals. By the end of January the 

 bushes had again become covered with flowers and young pods, and it 

 was calculated the next harvest might be about April. When that was 

 gathered in, it was proposed to stub up every alternate plant, so as to 

 give more room for the remainder; for being planted so close their 

 branches had soon begun to interlock. It was doubtful whether 

 it would answer to cultivate this cotton as a perennial, for the pods that 

 were coming on seemed punier than those of the first crop, although 

 more numerous, so that their produce would probably be rather 

 inferior in quality if not in quantity, and succeeding crops might be 

 expected to go on deteriorating. But if, by resowing every year, two 

 crops could be obtained, yielding together from 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. per 

 acre, its cultivation would be amply remunerative. Experience will 

 soon decide whether it is more profitable to cultivate it as an annual, a 

 biennial, or a perennial. 



It takes 150 well-formed pods of the Egyptian cotton to yield a 

 pound of clean cotton, which is very white and strong, but of rather 

 short staple. 



4. Algodon de Georgia (Georgia Cotton). Raised from seeds brought 

 from the United States. 



