COTTON- WOOL. 



7 



that the young roots may easily strike downwards) Letter from 



free from the water, carefully allowing none to Governor-gen., 



lodge on the surface, it being pernicious both to 



the seed and shrubs. Cotton is seldom sown after 



the end of August in and about the Guzerat, from 



the great uncertainty of having sufficient rain at 



the time when the shrub most requires it. When 



the shrub is well advanced and strong, it requires 



no other moisture than the dews, which fall very 



heavy in this part of the country as soon as the 



cold season sets in, which is about the beginning 



of November. In three or four davs after the 



seed is sown the shrub makes its appearance, and 



in five or six bears two leaves. 



In November and December the bud appears, 

 which flowers in four or five days. The flower 

 after continuing about the same time falls, and 

 the pod appears, which ripens in about twenty-five 

 or thirty days, but requires both sun and heavy 

 dews to bring it to perfection. When ripe it bursts 

 open on three sides and discovers the cotton. 

 Five or six days after the pod is open the cotton 

 is ready to gather, but may remain upon the 

 shrub for ten days without injury. 



It is customary here to gather the cotton ten 

 days after the pod opens, and then allow ten days 

 more for other pods to ripen, and so continue 

 gathering as they come forward till the month of 

 April, by the end of which the cotton is all off 

 the ground. The cotton that is taken from the 



shrub 



