May 1, 1865.1 THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



NORTHERN PERU. 439 



better than sowing the seeds in beds and transplanting the seedlings, for 

 the cotton-plant never thrives well if the point of its long slender tap- 

 root gets broken off. 



As to the width between the rows and between the plants in each row, 

 all distances from 6 to 18 feet have been tried. The Egyptian cotton- 

 plants above spoken of as standing only 6 feet apart, had, at the end of 

 nine months, completely covered the ground, which was thus kept 

 constantly cool and moist — an obvions advantage in the hot weather, 

 but with the drawback of the ends of the branches getting continually 

 broken or trampled upon by the irrigators and cotton-pickers. On another 

 plot of the same kind of cotton, where the plants stood farther asunder, 

 kidney beans were sown between them, and ripened their fruit and were 

 cleared away before they interfered with the extension of the cotton- 

 plants. The Indians sometimes alternate maize with cotton, but that 

 draws up the plants too much. In general, to cultivate the plant as a 

 perennial, plenty of room must be allotted to it, either from the first 

 sowing or by thinning out the alternate plants when they begin to 

 encumber each other ; and it is scarcely necessary to add, that the leading 

 shoots require to be nipped off when a few feet high, to make the plants 

 spread laterally, and to keep them from growing beyond the reach of 

 the cotton pickers. 



As irrigation is everything to the cotton-plant at Monte Abierto, 

 various methods of applying it have been tried, and what has been 

 found to answer best is, a canal or furrow along each side of the ridge 

 whereon the cotton is planted. By turning the water into the furrows, 

 a sufficient amount of moisture reaches the roots of the plants, which is 

 hardly the case when there is but one furrow to each ridge, or ridges 

 and furrows alternate, unless the rows or ridges be so near together as 

 to leave no room for the plants to spread. Planting in the furrow itself, 

 or even in a hole on one side of the furrow, has not turned out well ; 

 for, when the base of the stem of a cotton-plant is frequently wetted, 

 it is apt to waste its vigour in root-suckers, or even sometimes to 

 rot. 



As to the amount of water required by each plant, and the frequency 

 with which it should be applied, that is still in the domain of expe- 

 riment. Young plants seem to be better for a little water every day, 

 but as they grow up less is required, and adult plants thrive perfectly 

 when watered only once a week. Some variety of treatment is evidently 

 needed to meet the varying amount of heat (which extends to a 

 difference of 20° between the hottest and coldest months), and also 

 the stage of maturity which the crop may have reached ; and this is 

 what remains to be determined. Between the crops — when it is usual 

 for most plants in the wild state to rest for a certain period of time — 

 it might be advisable to withdraw altogether the stimulus of moisture, 

 even to the extent of allowing the leaves to fall off, for they would soon 

 be renewed when water was readmitted to the roots. 



