1843-44.] BR. WIGHT AND AMERICAN PLANTERS. 



41 



in a position to profit by the experience of 29th i ju? ors * 

 two seasons ; and moreover they had more 1842. ibid, 

 or less manured their land by ploughing in ® d ' 

 the old stalks. The saw gins sent out had Madras Go- 

 required alterations and additions, but they 9^™^;' 

 were now placed in good working order 1842. ibid. p. 

 under the direction of Mr. Petrie, an En- Dr.' Wight's 

 gineer who had been sent out from Eng- 

 land expressly to work the gins and to 1843. ibid.' 

 superintend the repair of the machinery, gpatchfrom 

 A Colaba press had also been forwarded in {? e V( ^ r adras 

 the place of an Atlas press, which had not mentTeth 

 been found to work so well as had been 18 |f • 



expected. 



Unfavourable results: their causes. — The results 62 

 however of this season were unfavourable, both as re- 

 garded the crop and the proportion of wool nr. Wight's 

 to seed. Dr. Wight ascribed the failure to xlov?mber h 

 two causes : — 1st, To the circumstance that 1844. ibid. 'p. 

 the abundance of rain brought by the north- 871 " 

 east monsoon had fallen within too short a period, and 

 had been followed by a long period of dry weather ; and 

 2nd, To the American system of ridging, which created 

 a deep water furrow on each side of the row of plants, 

 and thus in dry seasons drained the water too rapidly 

 off the lands. This latter idea had already been made 

 the subject of experiment. At an early gee ^ ^ 

 period Dr. Wight had not considered that ee P ara - 

 American ridging was suitable to an Indian climate. 

 Accordingly during the second year he had tried the 

 effect of sowing on level ground ; but then the season 

 had been unusually wet, and the ridging would have 

 served to carry off the water. In the third year he 

 had reverted to the ridging ; but then the season had 

 turned out unusually dry, and the ridging drained the 

 land too rapidly, and in fact proved worse than the 

 level method. The real cause of the failure appears to 

 have been the exhaustion of the soil, and the necessity 

 for a rotation of crops. However this subject will be 

 discussed further on. 



Comparison of the crops of the third Season with G3 

 those of the second. — The difference in the out-turn of 



