Cuar. XIV.] COTTON SOWN AMONGST OTHER CROPS. 267 
superfluous water is drained out of it, and is then 
conveyed away and spread over the cotton fields. 
Previous to this, the Iand has been prepared for its 
reception, having been either ploughed up with 
the small buffalo plough in common use in the 
country, and then broken and pulverised by the 
three-pronged hoe, or, in those instances where the 
farms are small and cannot boast of a buffalo and 
plough, it is loosened and broken up. entirely by 
manual labour. When the mud is first spread 
over the land, it is, of course, hard or cloggy, but 
the first showers soon mix it with the surface soil, 
and the whole becomes pulverised, and it is then 
ready for the reception of the cotton seed. Road- 
scrapings and burnt rubbish are saved up with 
eare, and used for the same purpose and in the 
same manner. 
A considerable portion of the cotton lands either 
lie fallow during the winter months, or are planted 
with those crops which are ready for gathering prior 
to the sowing of the cotton seed. Frequently, how- 
ever, two crops are found growing in the field at 
the same time. Wheat, for example, which is a 
winter crop, is reaped in the Shanghae district 
generally about the end of May, while the proper 
time for putting in the cotton seed is the beginning 
of that month or the end of April. In order, 
therefore, to have cotton on the wheat lands, the 
Chinese sow its seeds at the usual time amongst the 
wheat, and when the latter is reaped, the former is 
several inches above ground, and ready to grow 
