204 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA, 
Chap. XII. 
blowing from the north and east for the last seven 
months, change to the south and west, the atmosphere 
will be highly charged with electric fluid, and the clouds 
will daily rain and refresh his crops. 
The cotton-fields are carefully tended during the 
summer months. The plants are thinned where they 
have been sown too thickly, the earth is loosened 
amongst the roots, and the ground hoed and kept 
free from weeds. If the season is favourable, immense 
crops are obtained, owing to the fertility of the soil ; but 
if the weather happens to be unusually dry from June 
to August, the crop receives a check which it never 
entirely recovers, even although the ground, after that 
period, should be moistened by frequent showers. 1845 
was a season of this kind, and the crop was a very 
deficient one compared with that of the previous year. 
The spring was highly favourable, and the plants looked 
well up to the month of June, when the dry weather set 
in, and gave them a check which they never recovered. 
Abundance of rain fell later in the season, but it was 
then too late, and only caused the plants to grow 
tall and run to leaf, without producing those secretions 
which ultimately go to the formation of flowers and 
seed. 
The cotton-plant produces its flowers in succession 
from August to the end of October, but sometimes, 
when the autumn is mild, blooms are produced even up 
to November, when the cold nights generally nip the 
buds, and prevent them from forming seed. In the 
autumn of 1844 this happened on the night of the 28th 
