COTTON-WOOL. 



361 



leaves and branches being so thick as not to admit of a Appendix, 

 free circulation of air, or of the rays of the sun, to any 

 other grain the ryots might wish to sow among it ; hence 

 such grain would never come to its natural perfection, 

 and they would, of course, be losers by attempting it. 



The rarreah plant requires a good rich soil, a little 

 elevated, and to be cultivated near a well or a jaut; for 

 about the beginning of December the ryots begin to water 

 it once in four or five days, and continue doing so till 

 the pods are ripe, unless casual showers of rain should 

 render that labour unnecessary. But this sort requires to 

 be regularly attended to and watered, otherwise the plant 

 never grows to its proper size, nor does the pod produce 

 its proper quantity of kupas. 



The munnoah requires a soil neither too dry nor too 

 wet, and it is generally cultivated in this country along 

 with the articles already specified, in land of an inferior 

 quality to that in which the rarreah is reared. It is not 

 watered like the latter by the ryots, who say it is a hardy 

 plant, nor is any great attention necessary or bestowed 

 upon it. It will grow up well in an indifferent soil, but is 

 usually sown in one of a middling kind. 



When the pods of the cotton-plant begin to open and 

 the cotton appears white, then the ryots, their wives, their 

 children, and their servants, repair to the fields, and pull- 

 ing the pod they extract the kupas therefrom. What is 

 thus primarily extracted constitutes the first sort, as 

 being reaped during the proper season, and when the 

 plant is in its full vigour. It is necessary, however, to 

 observe that all the pods do not get ripe at the same time, 

 and therefore remain on the plant till a later season. 

 During this time should any rain fall, it generally gives 

 rise to a worm that then lodges in the pod and feeds on a 

 portion of the cotton contained therein, which gives a 



yellow 



