270 RAINS — SUMMER CULTIVATION. [Cuar. XIV. 
weather set in, and gave them a check which they 
never recovered. Abundance of rain fell later in 
the season but it was then too late, and only caused 
the plants to grow tall and run to leaf, without 
producing those secretions which ultimately go to 
the formation of flowers and seed. 
The cotton plant produees its flowers in suc- 
cession from August to the end of October, but 
sometimes, when the autumn is mild, blooms are 
produced even up to November, when the cold 
nights generally nip the buds, and prevent them 
from forming seed. In the autumn of 1844 this 
happened on the night of the 28th of October, when 
the thermometer sunk to the freezing point, and 
then ice was found on the sides of the canals and 
ponds. 
As the pods are bursting every day, it is neces- 
sary to have them gathered with great regularity, 
otherwise they fall upon the ground and the cotton 
gets dirty, which of course reduces its value in the 
market. Little bands of the Chinese are now seen 
in the afternoon in every field, gathering the ripe 
cotton and carrying it home to the houses of the 
farmers. As the farms are generally small, they 
are worked almost entirely by the farmer and his 
family, consisting sometimes of three or even four 
generations, including the old grey-haired grand- 
father or great grand-father, who has seen the 
crops of four-score years gathered into his barns. 
Every member of these family groups has a certain 
degree of interest in his employment ; the harvest is 
