92 



Remarks on the Cultivation of Cotton. 



[July 



Coimbatore. — The very copious agricultural details from this district 

 enable me to give a fuller account of it than of any of the preceding, 

 or rather I should say renders it difficult to give a sufficiently condensed 

 summary. There are several varieties of country cotton cultivated, 

 but I shall confine myself to two, the annual and triennial, or oopum 

 and laudum purthee, the former is cultivated in deep black, the latter 

 in the lighter loamy calcarious soils. In the latter only the American 

 and Bourbon cottons can be cultivated successfully. 



The lands, previously manured, are prepared for the reception of the 

 seed by repeated ploughings, after the first rains in April 5 but the sow- 

 ing does not take place until August, September, or even October, ac- 

 cording to the setting in of the rains, when, after two or three addi- 

 tional ploughings, it is sown broadcast, the seeds being previously 

 soaked in cow-dung or red earth and water, and dried to prevent them 

 adhering to each other in sowing. When about a month old, the 

 ground is again ploughed with a light plough made without iron on 

 the share, a proof that they are not so tender at this age as usually 

 supposed, which at the same time weeds the ground and thins the 

 superfluous plants. In about another month they are weeded again, 

 after which they are considered sufficiently matured to resist the wea- 

 ther. The same methods are practised with the American and Bour- 

 bon cottons. In ordinary seasons the gathering commences in March 

 and continues till the end of April. If rain falls about that time, 

 the plantation is again ploughed and cleared from weeds, and in 

 July and August a second crop is gathered, amounting to about 

 half the first. In January of the second year these processes are re- 

 peated, and the two crops gathered as in the first, and again 

 in the third year, after which the plants droop, cease to bear, 

 and are rooted out before the setting in of the North East mon- 

 soon. If the soil is black it is re-manured and prepared for a fresh 

 crop of oopum purthee, but if the plantation has been triennial, the 

 land is fallowed or sown with some common light grain. The time for 

 ploughing, sowing and gathering the annual, is the same as for the 

 triennial, plant. Experiments were in progress, at the date of the re- 

 port, for determining the comparative advantage of row planting, but 

 have not yet been communicated. It seems probable much advantage 

 would accrue from liberal pruning after each crop. The cultivation of 

 Bourbon and American cotton is rapidly extending, and in some talooks 

 has nearly superseded the indigenous triennial ; the plan of culture 

 being the same for both, and no advantage obtained on that account, 

 its extension must be solely attributable to its superiority. The col- 

 lector, Mr. Drury, thinks that if the cost, of conveyance to the coast for 

 exportation was reduced, a further increase would take place, greatly to 

 the advantage of the district. 



