218 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. TI. 



stated, the Kegud or Black land, previously made 

 ready for cultivation, is, upon a seasonable fall of rain, 

 sown through bamboo tubes with an implement called 

 Gooroo (Drill plough), containing three teeth, and 

 drawn by a pair of bullocks, But in sowing Cotton 

 and corraloo together, the former is sown in the drill 

 made by the middle tooth of the drill, and the corraloo 

 on either side ; making one row of Cotton for every 

 two lines of corraloo. When Cotton is sown alone, the 

 middle drill is left unfilled, and the two outer ones are 

 alone sown. The usual time for the cultivation of Cot- 

 ton with corraloo is about the month of September, and 

 for Cotton alone about fifteen or twenty days after- 

 wards. The plants are two or three inches apart in 

 the same row ; but the rows are, as before said, one 

 and a half to two feet from each other. The amount 

 of labour bestowed upon weeding during growing time 

 is as follows. "When the Cotton and corraloo crops are 

 of one month's growth, two implements (Hoes) called 

 6 Tadagoontakah,' drawn with a bullock and a driver 

 each, are employed for weeding on two occasions, once 

 in twelve days. After this has been done, another de- 

 scription of implement, called 6 Juntalagoontakah,' 

 three in number, with a pair of bullocks and three 

 drivers, is employed on two occasions once in ten days. 

 The extent of land which may be weeded from nine 

 o'clock in the morning up to the evening would not be 

 more than four acres ; and the amount of labour be- 

 stowed upon weeding four times the above quantity of 

 land may be estimated at Bupees 2^, or 4s. 6d. But 

 where Cotton alone is sown without corraloo, the weed 

 is hoed after one month's growth of the crop, twice at 

 twelve days' interval, by the £ Pillagoontaka,' with a 

 pair of bullocks and two drivers, at a cost of eight an- 

 nas per day, or one rupee for the two occasions they 

 are employed. The average extent of land weeded in a 

 day is four acres. The flowering time is generally two 

 months after sowing, and the crop comes to maturity 

 three months after flowering or five months after sow- 

 ing. The Cotton is picked on three occasions in the 

 month. It is in the second time that the largest quan- 



