20 



FARMERS BULLETIN. 



flattened twisted appearance, and the wall is much thicker in proportion 

 to the size of the cavity than in the green filaments. Cotton should not be 

 picked until the bells have ripened and the lint thoroughly dried in 

 the sun. 



Gossypium herbaceum, and its varieties, is the species most usually 

 cultivated in the Philippines for its fiber, although G. arboreum occurs. 

 The former species is grown mere or less extensively in the Provinces of 

 Ilocos, Union, Pangasinan, Abra, Bulacan, Batangas, Camarines, and 

 Laguna and in the Islands of Panay and Cebu and parts of Mindanao. 



Although cotton is grown throughout a large area in the Philippines, 

 yet the fiber has never been produced in sufficient quantities for foreign 

 export. Some years ago a small interisland trade existed, but the coming 

 of cheap cotton prints and yarn from Europe, India, and China has 

 caused a decrease in both the production and trade between ports. The 

 production for 1893 in some of the northern provinces of Luzon is shown 

 in the following table : 



The average is 354 kilograms per hectare, or 315 pounds of lint cotton 

 per acre. Yet this is not the average of production in the Islands. It is 

 safe to say that the average is not more than 165 pounds of lint cotton 

 per acre. 



The production of raw cotton, or of cotton manufactures, on a com- 

 mercial scale is inseparable from the use of machinery. The employment 

 of cotton in weaving dates back into the centuries before Christ, but if it 

 had not been for the invention of the cotton gin perhaps the fiber would 

 not be as much used to-day as it was then. The perfection of weaving 

 machinery has greatly extended the value and usefulness of this fiber. 

 Two machines have been used for the separation of lint from the seed from 

 time immemorial in China and India. The most simple and probably the 

 oldest consists of a piece of iron in the form of a double cone, large in the 

 center and tapering towards the ends (sometimes a simple cone is used). 

 For its use the seed cotton is spread upon a flat stone or heavy board, 

 and this cone, used as a roller, pushes the seed from the lint as it revolves. 

 A little pressure may be exerted by the hands or feet of the operator. 

 This implement can be used only with the naked and hard-seeded varieties. 

 By this method only from 4 to 6 pounds of lint cotton per day can be 

 turned out by each operator. The other of these which has found its way 

 into the Philippines, probably through China, consists of two wooden 

 rollers arranged horizontally one above the other (sometimes the lower \ 



