The richest cotton-growing region of Peru lies in the vicinity of Sechura and Catacaos on the Piura River, and in the lower valley of the Chira, where the lands have been formed by alluvial deposits and were formerly covered with forests of mesquite, called _algarrobas_. Here the Peruvian cotton attains its finest development and is so easily produced that good lands require to be irrigated only once a season to ensure a bountiful harvest. Sowing is a simple process which consists in dropping the seed into holes ten or fifteen feet apart. It is not necessary to plough the ground, and irrigation ditches carry from the Chira and Piura Rivers all the water required for fertilization. In the spaces between the cotton plants are grown melons, pumpkins, and the indispensable maize. The first harvest appears eight months after the seed is sown, though it is usually small, seldom amounting to more than four hundred pounds to the acre. The production increases each year following, up to the fifth or sixth year, when the crop reaches an average of more than half a ton to the acre. On the plantations of Mancora and in the beautiful chacaras of Monte Viejo, Los Dos Altos, Cumbivira, Chato, Casa Grande, Monte Negro, and others, the Peruvian cotton grows to perfection. In the valley of the Chira, where there is the greatest abundance of water and the only problem presented to the cotton-grower is how to make the best use of it for irrigation, the future of this industry offers brilliant prospects. Within the past few years its cultivable lands have been greatly increased, especially in the _campiñas_ of Sullana and Querecotillo, and on the San Francisco, Chocán, Mallares, Saman and other haciendas. [Illustration: ALGARROBA TREES ON A PIURA PLANTATION.] Much of the material that is sold in foreign markets as pure woollen is made of Peruvian cotton, which is of a very rough fibre measuring from one to two inches in length. On the plantations near the coast the cotton is rougher than in the interior, and is called in English markets Full Rough Peruvian, the most valuable of all the native fibres. When carded it looks so much like wool that only an expert can tell the difference; and after being woven into cloth, the distinction between the two products can hardly be determined, except by chemical analysis. For this reason Peruvian cotton has been called “vegetable wool,” and has been used in the manufacture of materials to serve the same purpose as the real wool.