p HISTORY OF THE [book t* 
are hpavy, either when the plant is in blossom, or 
when the pods are beginning to unfold, the crop is 
lost. Perhaps, however, these observations apply 
more immediately to the French cotton than to 
any other. 
The plant is raised from the seed, the land re¬ 
quiring no other preparation than to be cleared of 
Its native incumbrances; and the season for put¬ 
ting the seed into the ground is from May to Sep¬ 
tember, both months inclusive. This is usually 
done in ranks or rows, leaving a space between 
each," of six or eight feet, the holes in each row 
being commonly four feet apart.—It is the practice 
to put eight or ten of the seeds into each hole, be¬ 
cause some of them are commonly devoured by a 
grub or worm, and others rot in the ground. The 
young sprouts make their appearance in about a 
fortnight, but they are of slow growth for the first 
six weeks, at which period it is necessary to clean 
the ground and draw the supernumerary plants, 
leaving two or three only of the strongest in each 
hole. One plant alone would be sufficient to 
leave, if there was any certainty of its coming to 
maturity; but many of the tender sprouts are de¬ 
voured by the grub. At the age of three or jour 
months, the plants are cleaned a second time; and 
both the stem and branches pruned, or, as it is 
called, topp'd , an inch (or more if the plants are 
luxuriant) being broke off from the end of each 
shoot; which is done in order to make the stems 
throw out a greater number of lateral branches. 
