many valuable rivers which water the Deccan or
Central Tableland of India. The Mahanuddy, Godavari, Kristna, and
Kauvari are rivers fed by the S.W. monsoon. Then, again, the low-lying
lands near the mouth of the Indus, the great desert of Rajputana, the
peninsula of Gujerat and the district of Malwa--all allow, by reason of
their low-lying nature, the S.W. winds to pass over them laden as they
are with vast quantities of moisture. They travel on till they meet the
Himalayas, where again they help to swell the volume of the waters in
the rivers Ganges and Indus. When the N.E. monsoons blow they do not
carry anything like the amount of moisture which the S.W. monsoons do,
as their areas of collection are very much more limited. Consequently
this part of the year is usually a dry one (viz., from October to
March).

Thus it will be seen that the great plain of Southern India is much less
watered than the more Northerly portions and consequently is much less
fertile. This fact must be borne in mind as the cotton-growing areas are
described and indicated.

India, which grows more cotton than any other country in the world (the
States excepted), may be said to possess four distinct areas for the
production of commercial cotton. They are--

1. Central Tableland or Deccan.
2. Valley of the Ganges.
3. Western India.
4. Southern India.

and the above order shows them also according to their commercial
importance.

_Central District._--This is a vast plateau bounded on the north by the
Vindhya mountains, on the east and west by the Ghats of those names, and
on the south by the River Krishna. As is to be expected, the collecting
and exporting of the cottons grown in this district are done at Bombay.
The finest cottons grown in India are produced in this region.

Four centres stand out prominently in the production of cotton, viz.,
Dharwar, Hyderabad, Nagpore and Berar. The soils generally in the Deccan
are very rich and capable of retaining moisture during the growing term
of the plant's life. What are known as the black soils of India are to
be found plentifully in this district, and these are exceedingly rich in
mineral matter. Nagpore should specially be named, as it is in this
province that the finest cotton grown in all India is produced, viz.:--

"Hingunghat Cotton."

"Oomrawattee Cotton" is the name given to a special kind which is
produced in the province of Berar. It is sometimes called "O