Artificial irrigation to cotton is rather the :!xception than the rule in most parts of India ; it proves more serviceable to exotic than to indigenous kinds ; and in heavy black soil cotton will seldom flourish under irrigation, even of the most careful kind, while in sandy and light rc 1 3orts it might be much benefited.
Manure.—Salt marsh mud is used for manure in various parts of the cotton-growing diatricts of the United States more especially ill Eddesto island, one of the 'largest of the South Carolina group, about 30 miles S.W. of Charleston, which yields the finest cotton in the world.' As much as 40 cartloads of this mud is used to the acre. Some compost it, others put it in the cattle pens. Some dry it before hauling, and then spread-upon the land ; while others prefer to use it as soon as dug, spread upon the land wet, and ploughed in. It is supposed that the Sea Island qualities owe their superiority to the use of marsh mud, which is rich in alkalies and alkaline earths.
In the Panjab, the localities best suited for the growth of cotton are the submontane districts of Ambala, Iloshiarpur, Gujerat, and Phawur. The time of sowing varies from February in the south, to the middle of Juno in some of the northern districts. The flowering commences according to locality, between August 'and December ; the picking following about a month after the flower in„,r, and continues at intervals for two months.
There the average produce per acre, after the cotton is cleaned from its seed, is a littlo over one maund (or 80 lbs.), the rate varying from three maunds (240 lbs.) of raw cotton in the Hoshiarpur, to 16 seers (32 lbs.) of cleaned cotton in the Kan,gra district.
The Nurma-bun cotton is cultivated in small quantities all over Hindustan, and its produce is in great request for the manufacture of the best kind of Brahrnanical thread. It is a bushy plant, grows to the height of about seven feet, and lasts abont six years. It is cultivated all over Omni, usually as a mixed crop, in light soils, with arhar (Cajanus Indica), or with kodo (Pas palum scrobiculatum), and often with maize. It is sown in the month of June. It is sown broad cast with the above, and nothing is done to juin it begins to ripen tho pods. The cotton is picked out of the shell, which is left on the tree. The
proportion of staple produced is very small. It is generally on high lands, on which the rain water does not lie.
Agra, Robilkhand, Meerut, and Allahabad are the great cotton-producing districts of the N.W. Provinces, and their average yield per acre is mode rate. In Aligurh the sowing is in June and July, and gathering from October to end of December.
In Gorakhpur and the neighbouring districts, the indigenous sorts are called Kukti, Murwa, and Desi. The Kukti kind is sown in February, in calcareous soils, when the ground has been but slightly prepared ; it is picked in September and October. It is an annual, and tho same ground is never used in two consecutive seasons.
Munca cotton, if carefully tended, is triennial, or even quinquennial ; it is generally grown both silicious (bangar) or calcareous (bhat) soils, as a border round sugar-cane or vegetable plots.
The Desi or indigenous variety is common to all Goraklipur and its neighbourinu districts. It is sown in June, in ground but littre prepared for its reception, and does not yield till the following April. It is an annual ; bears pods for six weeks only, and is then cut down.
In Bundelkhand cotton grows to great perfec tion, and its produce is of a softer texture and of a whiter colour than that of the Doab.
The mar or mattra black soil of the first quality is the most prOductive, yielding on the average 286 lbs. per acre.
The purtca soil of Bundelkhand is reddish, a mixture of sand and clay, and yields 191 lbs. per acre, 2-7ths being the proportion of cleaned cotton.
Bankar is a light-coloured, sandy, gravelly soil, which yields 143 lbs. per acre, 1-5th of the produce being cleaned cotton.
In Bundelkhancl cotton is sown as a mixed crop in the beginning of the rains, and if the season is favourable, picking begins in the middle of September in the poorer soils; but not till the middle or end of October in the rich ones. Two ploughings and three weedings are necessary. The seed is rubbed in inoist cow-dung, to serve as manure and is sown broadcast. The cost of cultivation per acre is Rs. 9. After the removal of the fibre, the seed (binoula) finds a ready sale in E. Oudh at 50 or 60 seers the rupee..