228 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. VI. 1 



over tliis ; and by some irrigation is said not to answer, 1 

 producing leaves but not Cotton. i 



358 Seed used and whence obtained. — The seed of the ( 

 Native Oopunr Cotton is kept by the Natives from the c 

 last crop, and sown in the following season. The seed i 

 is not separated from the Cotton till the sowing time, e 

 or it loses its germinating power. The New Orleans, 1 

 Bourbon, Mexican, &c. seed used in the late Experi- I 

 mental Farm, was obtained by Government from Eng- i 

 land, or brought out by the American Planters formerly t 

 engaged on the Earm here. New Orleans seed of the i 

 ninth generation in this country produced excellent i 

 crops ; and the American plant has been cultivated in i 

 this district from the same seed for eleven years, with- ] 

 out apparent deterioration in the quality of either the i 

 Cotton or seed produced. # 1 



359 Character of the Cotton plant. — " The Oopum is a i 

 small plant, seldom exceeding five feet in height, gene- ] 

 rally less, and wears the appearance of a degenerated 1 

 species. Its branches have not the same lateral spread 

 as the exotic kinds. The Bourbon also averages from 1 

 two to three feet in height, but the branches extend 

 almost as far laterally. The plants are low, depressed, : 

 crooked, and as it were stunted. The New Orleans I 

 variety, if left untrimmed, shoots up to nearly six feet 

 in height. In the field it averages about four feet ; 

 the branches are longer and thinner than the preceding 

 species, with more of an upward than a lateral direc- 

 tion. A bush four feet high and trimmed will measure 

 nearly as much in spread. Two hundred pods have 

 been counted on a single bush, the stem often equals a 

 man's finger in thickness, and it is the only description 

 cultivated here, that at all approaches a tree. Erom a 

 foot to eighteen inches is left between the plants, but 

 if the growth is vigorous not less than an average dis- 

 tance of eighteen inches should be allowed. In 

 moderately fertile and high and dry lands, from two 

 and a half to three feet between the rows is enough ; 



* This fact has been disputed. See General Kesults at the con- 

 clusion of the present chapter, para. 372. 



