May 1. 1865.1 THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



NORTHERN PERU. 441 



82° the day before. It was on the 31st that I first noticed the dis- 

 coloured pods at Monte Abierto — elsewhere in the valley I was told 

 they had been observed earlier ; but there can be no doubt that the 

 augmented heat and dryness of the atmosphere were, in all cases, the 

 origin of the mischief. 



It must be noted here, that all the taller-growing cottons suffered 

 from this infliction, and the Creole or Piura most of all, the crop of it 

 throughout the country being an utter failure. From causes already 

 specified, this kind of cotton seems to have got into a pathological state 

 predisposing it to suffer from blight. The Imbabura and Riiion cottons 

 suffered less than the Piura, but even those were far from escaping 

 entirely. The Egyptian cotton, however, was not the least affected, 

 chiefly, perhaps, from some idiosyncrasy fitting it for enduring with 

 impunity the atmospheric influences which acted so injuriously on the 

 other kinds, but also (I cannot help thinking) from the plants standing 

 so close together as to completely overshade the ground and keep it 

 cool, and from their having been liberally watered at the precise period 

 of the access of heat in December, while plots of some of the other 

 kinds had had no water for full two months. I am not so sure of the 

 influence of the last cause, for a few Piura plants that had no lack of 

 water remained verdant enough, and sent out suckers from the root, 

 and yet the pods turned brown and dried up as in the others that had 

 no water given them. Perhaps moisture supplied to the roots alone did 

 not suffice, and only daily rains could have mollified the effects of the 

 sudden heat. Syringing daily a large cotton plantation seems utterly 

 impracticable, especially as to be beneficial it should be used only in 

 the early morning or evening hours, and yet it seems indicated in 

 this case. 



Although I consider that, in the instance just described, the malign 

 influence may clearly be traced to drought, that is by no means the 

 only cause of blighted crops. Garua, or drizzle, is accused, and not 

 unjustly, of sometimes injuring the plants ; and it injures them in this 

 way — when, after a morning's slight garua has just sufficed to sprinkle 

 the leaves, pods, &c, with minute drops, the sun suddenly shines out 

 blazing hot upon them, each drop becomes a lens or burning-glass, and 

 on drying up leaves a discoloured spot in its place. The respiratory 

 organs being thus injured, the whole plant suffers, and is apt to fall into 

 a sickly state, so that it ripens little or no fruit. 



An aphis also sometimes attacks the leaves, causing them to swell 

 up here and there in reddish blisters, and of course hindering the 

 development of the flowers and fruits. The same or a similar insect 

 often makes great havoc of the leaves of water-melons and other ground 

 plants, leaving them shrivelled and strewed with a black powder, the 

 animal's excrement. Drought, drizzle, and insects are all laid by the 

 Peruvians to the account of one common plague, heladas. 



The crop of cotton, especially that which is gathered in the hot 



