1 Ocr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 267 
warmth and moisture such as often obtain in our spring and summer seasons, 
when weeds and grass grow apace, this, supplemented by the difficulty of 
getting the land turned over, will soon prove the need of doing all the tillage 
well at the outset and as constantly and as early in the season as practicable. 
This couch-grass trouble can be very much minimised by the careful use of the 
horse hoe when working beside the drills. A steady horse and skilful driver, 
provided the plants have grown as they should in straight lines, or as nearly so 
as practicable, will enable the hoe to safely remove weeds from within an inch 
or so on each side of the drill. This accomplished leaves little undisturbed 
soil in the neighbourhood of the young plants. When this is the case, a man 
with the Dutch or chopping hoe can rapidly remove such weeds or grass as 
may have established themselves along the drills. Sometimes, by way of 
yariation, should the germinating weed be of the type of the common summer 
grass variety, the changing of tines, so as to smother the incipient growth by 
means of throwing a thin film of soil towards the plants, will prove effective ; 
this, however, is only possible in the very young stage of growth or in dry hot 
weather. The planter will by experience note that in the cultivation of this 
crop his success hinges on the economical way in which he can direct manual. 
labour. In the tilling of the crop this should have his close attention. No 
cotton-planter can hope to be successful who overlooks this fact. He will find 
that when the picking time comes along the matter of manual labour will then 
be such as to tax his pocket and energies quite sufficiently without unduly 
increasing tle cost of this character of labour by overlooking a single point to 
his advantage in the earlier treatment of the soil and crop. 
There are few crops grown that are easier tu keep clean than cotton, especially 
if it is treated as an annual. However, as the growing period is extended 
beyond the first year, it necessarily must be alittle more difficult to treat weeds. 
Cotton plants sown in drills, if the plants stand 18 inches or 2 feet apart, 
and 4 feet or 4 fect 6 inches between the drills, should by this time have inter- 
locked their foliage and be in blossom and bearing young pods. Summer grass 
will still grow to some extent if the tillage has not been thorough. Then the 
farmer will perhaps note to his disgust that his crop at picking time is some- 
what marred by the presence of grass-seed in the snowy fibre, to the detriment 
of its appearance and perhaps value, which trouble might have been avoided by 
more careful tillage. I am aware from experience that, although the farmer's 
ideal may be for clean cultivation, and strenuous efforts be made to secure that 
object, there are times and conditions that no man is master of. ‘The best laid 
plans of mice and men gang aft aglee” is as much within the experience of 
rural workers in our State as it is elsewhere. Given wet seasons, our best 
efforts may be frustrated in the matter of tillage. Despite all risks, I have 
never yet seen a crop of cotton that could not hold its own with every form of 
weed life if it only got a fair start in its first stages of development. 
COTTON. 
Some years ago a good deal of attention was given to the question of 
-eotton cultivation in Ceylon, but, though a number of small experiments were 
started at the time, we are not aware that a proper trial under the most favour- 
able conditions was given to the cultivation of the plant. With the opening of 
the Northern Railway the subject is once more being discussed in view of the 
possibility of suitable areas being found in the regions through which the new 
railway runs. 
The amount and distribution of rainfall have much to do with successful 
cotton cultivation, and this fact must be borne in mind in selecting soils. The 
plant thrives in a very warm atmosphere, provided the latter is moist and that 
severe drying winds are not prevalent. In the typical cotton climate the mean 
daily temperature increases from the time of seeding till the plant has reached 
. . 
its greatest vigour and stored up all the reserve food it needs for the production 
