268 TIME AND METHOD OF SOWING. ([Cuar. XIV. 
with vigour when it is more fully exposed to the 
influence of sun and air. The Shanghae season— 
that is, from the late spring frosts to those in au- 
tumn—is barely long enough for the production 
and ripening of the cotton, as it is easily injured by 
frost, and the Chinese farmer is thus obliged, in 
order to gain time and obtain two crops from his 
ground in one year, to sow its seeds before the 
winter crop is ready to be removed from the 
ground. When it is possible to have the first crop 
entirely removed before the cotton is sown it is 
much preferred, as the land can then be well worked 
and properly manured, neither of which can other- 
wise be done. The method of sowing one crop be- 
fore the preceding one is ripe and removed from the 
land is very common in this part of the country; 
and even in autumn, before the cotton stalks are 
taken out of the ground, other seeds are frequently 
seen germinating and ready to take the place of the 
more tender crop. 
In the end of April and beginning of May —the 
land having been prepared in the manner just 
described — the cotton seeds are carried in baskets 
to the fields, and the sowing commences. They 
are generally sown broad-cast, that is, scattered re- 
gularly over the surface of the ground, and then 
the labourers go over the whole surface with their 
feet and tread them carefully in. This not only em- 
beds the seeds, but also acts like a roller to break 
and pulverise the soil. Germination soon com- 
mences, the seeds rooting first in the manure which 
