FOR VICTORIAN INDUSTRIAL CULTURE. 99 



prolific Cotton-crop may be obtained. Good Cotton for 

 instance bas been produced on the Goulburn Kiver, the 

 Loddon, the Avoca and the Murray Rivers, particularly in 

 places where water could be applied. All cultivated kinds of 

 Cotton-plants are either naturally perennials or become such 

 in favourable climes, although they may be treated strictly as 

 annuals. Some of them will indeed in particular instances 

 grow to the height of 20 feet. The geographic parallels, 

 between which Cotton-culture is usually placed, are stretching in 

 various girdles between the 36"^ N.L. and 36° S.L. The 

 primary advantages of this important culture are : A return 

 in a few months, comparatively esay field operations, simple 

 and not laborious process of collecting the crop, and require- 

 ment of but little care in the use of the gin-machine in 

 finally preparing the raw material for the market, the woolly 

 covering of the seeds constituting the cotton of commerce. 

 The oil obtained by pressure from the seeds is useful for 

 various technic purposes, and the oil-cake can be used like 

 most substances of similar kind for very fattening stable-feed. 

 Sea Island Cotton was raised in splendid perfection in the 

 northern parts of Victoria fully fifteen years ago from seeds, 

 extensively distributed by the writer ; but the want of cheap 

 labour has hitherto militated against the extensive cultivation 

 of the Cotton, and so also against the culture of tea and 

 many other industrial plants. Cotton having been raised far 

 away from the influence of the sea-air, it would be worthy of 

 attempts, to naturalise various kinds of Cotton in the oases 

 of our deserts, irrespective of regular culture. Our native 

 Gossypium of the interior produces no fibre worth collecting. 

 Cotton-plants have a predilection for gently undulating or 

 sloping ground, with light soil and a moderate supply of 

 moisture. In the most favourable climes, such as that of 

 Fiji, Cotton produces flowers and fruits throughout the year, 

 but the principal ripening falls in the dry season. From 

 two hundred to three hundred plants or more can be placed 

 on an acre. As many as seven hundred pods have been 

 gathered from a single plant at one time, twelve to twenty 

 capsules yielding an ounce of mercantile Cotton. Weeding is 

 rendered less onerous by the vigorous growth of the plants. 

 Cotton comes well in for rotation of cro]DS. Major Clarke has 

 ascertained that crossing cannot be effected between the 

 Oriental and Occidental kinds of cotton. A high summer 

 temperature is needed for a prolific Cotton harvest. Intense 

 heat, under which even maize will suffer, does not injuriously 

 affect Cotton, provided the atmosphere is not dry in the 

 extreme. The soil should not be wet, but of a kind that 

 naturally absorbs and retains humidity, without over satura- 

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