6 COTTON 1ST THE MADEAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. I, 



and Canara is favoured by the south-west monsoon; 

 whilst certain portions of the table-land between them 

 enjoy a partial benefit from both monsoons. Each of 

 these monsoons brings a supply of rain. The north- 

 east brings less water than the other, but then its in- 

 fluence is more generally felt, as the Eastern Ghauts 

 are not sufficiently elevated to shut it out from the 

 central table-land. Not so however with the south- 

 west monsoon. That comes laden with a mass of 

 waters from the Southern ocean, and pours a heavy 

 torrent of rain upon the Western Ghauts ; but its in- 

 fluence is more or less shut out from the central table- 

 land by the abrupt and elevated wall of mountains. In 

 two or three favoured localities, however, and especially 

 in the neighbourhood of Coimbatore, there are breaks 

 or chasms in the Ghauts, through which the clouds are 

 carried by the south-west wind, and produce a fertility 

 which is not to be found in regions which only enjoy 

 the benefit of the north-east monsoon. The bearing 

 of these influences upon the cultivation of Cotton will 

 be found largely illustrated in the following pages. 



8 Climate of the Madras Presidency and Cotton States 

 of North America compared : reversal of seasons. — 

 Before noticing the other local peculiarities of the 

 Madras Presidency, it may be as well to compare the 

 climate generally with that of the Cotton States of 

 North America. We have seen that every part of the 

 Presidency lies to the southward of the twentieth degree 

 north latitude ; and we may now add that all the Cotton 

 States of America lie to the northward of that degree, 

 and indeed to the northward of the thirtieth parallel. 

 This difference of latitude is obviated by a reversal of 

 the seasons, the winter of India being taken as the 

 summer of the Cotton cultivation. In other words, 

 whilst in America the Cotton is sown in April and 

 gathered in September, in India it is sown in October 

 and gathered in March and April. A further com- 

 parison of the results of this reversal of the seasons 

 will be found further on. 



9 Revenue Divisions of the Madras Presidency. — The 

 Madras Presidency is divided, for the purposes of col- 



