1853-62.] CEKTKAL TABLE-LAND : EIVE DISTRICTS. 231 



tween tlie rows, and well exposed to air before the mon- 

 \ soon rains set in ; and should they be copious, may be 

 g again ploughed and afterwards hoed and weeded. The 

 c plants will then shoot afresh and bear another year ; but 

 L the second crop is seldom good, and scarcely worth the 

 ! cost, in the interior at least. On the coast, New Orleans 

 3 Cotton has been known to yield better crops in the se- 

 [ cond year. The foregoing account refers to the culti- 

 j vation in this district of American Cotton. The Native 

 . mode of cultivating Indigenous Cotton answers to it in 



all essential points. The ground is ploughed four or 



five times in April ; the seed sown early in October, but 

 \ usually broad cast, and the ground again ploughed, and 

 : three times weeded during growth. At the first weed- 

 ] ing five labourers are employed per acre ; at the second 

 j six ; and at the third four : they are paid in grain. The 

 . picking occupies February and March, and is done at 

 j intervals of eight days at a time. Four labourers are 



employed per acre in picking, and one labourer will 

 t pick 12 lbs. of clean Cotton in the season. Generally 

 | speaking, from 150 to 250 lbs. per acre is always looked 

 i upon as a full crop of Native seed Cotton, while from 

 j 350 to 500 lbs. is by no means unusual in the case of 



American in good soil and very dark coloured. Yery 

 . light, almost sandy, alluvial loam, usually cultivated as 

 £ rice fields, has been known to produce from 1200 to 



1400 lbs. of seed Cotton (American) per acre. Three 

 , hundred pounds of seed Cotton represent 90 lbs. of 

 . clean Cotton. Cultivation to be profitable should yield 

 : 100 lbs. of ginned staple per acre. Gins give for Na- 

 ! tive Cotton about 21, and for American 29 per cent, of 

 , Cotton to seed. 



Manure. — " No manure is used, nor any Cotton seed 361 

 „ returned to the soil. The stalks are not allowed to de- 

 j cay on the ground. They are always plucked up and 

 , used by the Natives as firewood. 



Diseases. — " With respect to Native Cotton, in No- 362 

 ( vember and December the roots are liable to be attacked 



by a worm or grub, which kills the plant. In Decem- 

 j ber, too, the flowers and leaves are sometimes destroyed 



by a blight. Should too strong an east wind blow in 



