COTTON. 



201 



patented in 1870: two endless rubber belts, 

 electrically excited by friction, move vertically 

 upward on each side of the row, and as the 

 machine is driven along, the plants are violent- 

 ly agitated by mechanical means ; the cotton 

 which is shaken from the bolls adheres to the 

 rubber bands, and is conveyed to a receptacle 

 at the top of the machine. A pneumatic pick- 

 er working automatically contains a horizontal 

 fan which is actuated by the wheels on which 

 the machine is drawn, the cotton being disen- 

 gaged by a series of curved hoops inclosed 

 within a hood and conveyed by the current of 

 air into a wire-cloth receiver where the air 

 finds exit. The stalks of the cotton-plant are 

 cut, and the cotton beaten out into a wagon- 

 box upon a grating of transverse wires, accord- 

 ing to the method of a Louisiana inventor. An 

 elaborate picker, patented in 1872, is a long 

 cylinder covered with bristles, which revolves 

 by the aid of one of the supporting wheels, and 

 extracts the ripe cotton from the bolls, which 

 are bent over to the brush by a reel in front ; 

 a cleaning cylinder removes the lint from the 

 bristles and deposits it in the receptacle behind. 

 A similar method has been recently patented, 

 in which vertically revolving brushes, in con- 

 'tact with cleaning-combs, are arranged in two 

 pairs, one pair of brushes working on each side 

 of the cotton-row. Another mechanical har- 

 vester contains a series of barbed flexible rods 

 which work up and down alternately among 

 the cotton-plants, each in its ascent stripping 

 the cotton from the descending ones, which is 

 taken from the tops of the vibrating arms by 

 endless bands. 



The prevention of the ravages of the cotton- 

 worm has never been attempted with any suc- 

 cess until within the last ten years. Statistical 

 inquiries show that the annual loss to the 

 country from this pest between the years 1865 

 and 1879 has been $15,000,000, while in some 

 years it has amounted to double that sum. 

 The natural history of the cotton-worm was 

 explained at the Atlanta Exhibition by Pro- 

 fessor 0. V. Riley. The worm feeds on the 

 under side of the leaves, and is seldom observed 

 in the earlier part of the season, though its 

 presence is detected by skilled eyes from yel- 

 lowish and semi-transparent blotches on the 

 leaves. It makes its chrysalis usually in a piece 

 of rolled-up leaf. The moth, which is noc- 

 turnal in its habits, deposits its eggs on the 

 under side of the lowest and largest leaves. 

 The eggs are '6 millimetre wide, and are not 

 easily detected, being of nearly the color of the 

 leaf. The period of the phases of a generation 

 varies according to temperature. The average 

 time, taking tire whole season together, is about 

 one month. There are thus seven or more 

 generations developed each season in the Gulf 

 district. The first worms appear in the south- 

 ern portion of the cotton belt between the 

 middle of April and the middle of May. The 

 cotton-worm is exceedingly prolific, the moth 

 being capable of laying 600 or 700 eggs. The 



worm is not present in destructive numbers 

 before the third generation. The notion that 

 it suddenly appears in midsummer is therefore 

 natural. The insect hibernates only in the 

 southern part of the cotton-region, and its ex- 

 tension north must proceed every season from 

 thence. Staining and fragments of leaf in the 

 cotton, impurities the most difficult to remove, 

 are caused by the gnawing of the cotton-worm. 



The first effectual method of destroying the 

 cotton-worm was recommended by Professor 

 Riley, Entomologist to the Department of Agri- 

 culture at Washington, in 1873. This was the 

 use of Paris-green. Appliances for the appli- 

 cation of this and similar arsenical prepara- 

 tions were introduced in great variety between 

 1875 and 1878. They all had for their object 

 the throwing of the poisons, finely divided in 

 solutions or powders, over the plants broad- 

 cast. The subject of the prevention of the 

 cotton-worm's depredations was made, in 1878, 

 the subject of a special investigation by the 

 Agricultural Bureau. The method of spread- 

 ing the poison from below was found prefer- 

 able. The dry powder is more efficacious in 

 wet weather, but the wet method is ordinarily 

 more expeditious and less dangerous. The cost 

 of appliances for the wet method is greater. 

 The punctured sprinklers and gauze sifters 

 have been abandoned, as no means could be 

 devised for keeping them from clogging. Slit- 

 nozzle sprinklers, which project the fluid in a 

 fan-like sheet, that breaks up into a spray, are 

 made with the fissures cut in different curves 

 find angles to produce different kinds of jets. 

 These are excellent where large sprays for 

 broadcast sprinkling are desired. For obtain- 

 ing small sprays for poisoning cotton from 

 beneath, a form of nozzle has been devised 

 in which the fluid is let into the nozzle-cham- 

 ber at a tangent, causing a rapid whirling 

 of the fluid against the inner surface and its 

 slit; this washes away the particles which 

 would otherwise accumulate and clog up the 

 passage. Lip-nozzles spread the fluid in a 

 shower by dashing the stream against an in- 

 clined surface. These may produce a jet in one 

 sheet, or reflected in two or more planes, or 

 spreading in a funnel-shaped spray. Rotary 

 nozzles revolve by the force of the jet, causing 

 a spiral movement of the fluid, which breaks it 

 up into a spray. Rifling of a tubular nozzle 

 produces the same effect. A form of rotary 

 sprinkler, called the cyclone nozzle, is well 

 adapted for under-sprinkling, as it produces the 

 finest kind of spray ; the round-nozzle chamber 

 has a tangential inlet, and, at right angles to 

 this, a central circular outlet. 



There are four classes of machines for spread- 

 ing poison brush-throwers, rotary fan blow- 

 ers, bellows- blowers, and squirting -machines. 

 The latter is the most valuable form. Force- 

 pumps have been tried, but they have been 

 found too expensive for ordinary use. A de- 

 vice, called the automatic sprinkler, does away 

 with the necessity of pumps. The barrel of 



