1919.\ NOTES OX THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 17 



PESTS. 

 The cleaner the cultivation is kept the freer it will be from insects 

 pests. The most serious pest is the cotton stainer which makes its 

 appearance shortly before the bolls begin to open. The best methods 

 of control are trapping and collecting. This is done by tying a handfuU 

 of seed-cotton on the plants at some distance apart ; the seed attract the 

 stainers which settle in clusters on the traps when they can be shaken 

 off into a tin of water containing a little kerosene oil. If the destruction 

 is carried out systematically the pest can usually be easily kept in check 

 unless very abundant. 



REAPING. 



Cotton should be picked when the boll is fully opened and its 

 segments perfectly dry. No picking should be done while dew is on the 

 plants or in rainy weather. If the cotton is picked too early the process 

 of ripening is incomplete, the fibres are weak, they do not acquire the 

 twist necessary to give them a good spinning quality and the cotton is 

 difficult to dry. On the other hand cotton that is left too long in the 

 open bolls loses strength, lustre and silkiness and may be so tangled 

 up by the wind that it is difficult to gin. 



The pickers should be provided with a canvas bag 18 to 20 inches 

 long and 18 inches wide, made to tie around the waist so that both 

 hands may be free. The bag should have attached in front a pocket 

 about half the size of the bag. Only the good clean cotton is put in 

 the bag, any stained or soiled cotton is put in the pocket. In picking, 

 care should be taken to prevent bits of leaf or any foreign matter from 

 being included with the cotton. 



After picking the cotton should be dried by sunning in trays before 

 it is put up for ginning. 



The Government Farm undertakes to gin and bale cotton and 

 deliver same in Port-of- Spain at the rate of one cent per lb. of seed 

 cotton. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



Sea Island cotton is planted 3 feet by 2 feet or 4 feet by 2 feet, 

 the cost of planting and reaping an acre may be estimated at S60 to $70 

 and an average yield of 300 to 400 lb. of seed cotton per acre may be 

 expected. This cotton does not ratoon. 



THORNTONS HYBRID. 



This was a hybrid produced by Mr. T. Thornton in Tobago by 

 crossing Sea Island with a " native " cotton. It was grown for some 

 years in Tobago, &c. : but is not in cultivation now. The following 

 figures are however of interest: — 



The cost of planting and reaping a three acre field of " Thornton's 

 Hybrid" in 1913, at the St. Augustine Experiment Station was $68.27 

 per acre and the cost of cultivating the ratoons the following year was 

 $44.10 per acre. 



This variety was planted 5 feet by 5 feet and the crops reaped were 

 755 and 485 lb. of seed cotton per acre respectively for the plants and 

 ratoons. 



