In the Edo period, what people wore changed greatly from hemp to cotton. Cotton is warmer than hemp, softer to the touch and easier to dye. In the Kinai, in Kawachi, Settsu and Yamato, many farmers turned paddies into dry fields to grow cotton, and cotton became a crop as important as rice.
The Complete Book of Agriculture treats cotton as one of the "three plants," along with indigo and safflower, and describes how to grow it in detail. Roughly:
Cotton likes rich, well-drained sandy soil. Plow the field deep from winter on and fertilize it well.
Choose the seed from bolls that ripened well the year before. Before sowing, soak the seed in water or coat it with ash to help it sprout. Sow at the end of spring, once there is no more fear of frost.
When the shoots come up, thin out the weak seedlings and keep the strong ones. Through the summer, weed many times and hill up the soil. If the branches grow too long the plant bears poorly, so pinch off the tips to send strength into the bolls.
In autumn the bolls burst and the white cotton shows. Pick it boll by boll by hand on a sunny day. Rain spoils the cotton, so it is best to watch the weather carefully when picking.
Growing cotton takes much labor, but it brings a good income in return. Yasusada set down the growing of such commercial crops carefully too, hoping to make farmers' lives better.