THE COAST REGION. 37 



guards. The most dreaded enemy of the crop is the cotton caterpillar, 

 which makes its appearance in warm wet spells in the latter part of 

 summer, and speedily consumes the foliage. At one time so great and 

 constant were the depredations of these worms, that it was feared that 

 they would, as they did for some years, put a stop to the profitable cul- 

 ture of this crop. Now, however, by the use of paris green the planter 

 counts securely on contending successfully with them, and no .crop has 

 been lost in late years where it has been used in season. A mixture of 

 one pound of paris green, one of rosin, and forty pounds of flour, is dustc^l 

 by hand over the leaves on the first appearance of the worm, and this 

 inexpensive process secures exemption from their ravages, even when 

 they come in such numbers and work with such rapidity, that the por- 

 tion of a field not treated to the mixture in consequence of the interven- 

 tion of Sunday, is consumed beyond remedy. 



BREPARATION OF THE COTTON FOR MARKET. 



When the cotton has been picked, weighed and housed, it is next 

 spread out in the sun, on what is called " an arbor." This is a platform, 

 usuall}'' made of inch boards, raised a few feet above the ground and 

 some tw^enty-five feet or more square. Here the sun and air dries the 

 cotton, preventing it from heating, which it is liable to do when stored 

 in bulk, and it is also thought to cause the lint to absorb some of the oil 

 in the seed, which adds to the silky lustre of the fibre. After being thus 

 dried, it may be either stored or passed at once to the " whipper," a 

 machine that knocks out the dust and sand, and leaves the cotton whiter 

 and more open. Formerly, when the price was higher than it is at 

 present, it was all assorted. A hand was given one hundred and fifty 

 pounds of seed cotton as a day's task, which he thoroughly overhauled, 

 picked out all specks, stained cotton, fragments of leaf, etc. At present, 

 however, this is usually done by two hands, who examine the cotton as it 

 passes into the gin, and two others behind the gin, who pick out cracked 

 seed, motes, etc., as the lint issues from the gin. The roller gin in 

 some form has always been used for detaching the lint from black 

 seed cotton. Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander the Great, reports its 

 use among the Hindoos in his time. The first roller gin used in this 

 country was one constructed in 1788, by Mr. Bissell, of Georgia, the gen- 

 tleman already mentioned as having introduced this variet}'^ of cotton. 

 It consisted of two short wooden rollers moving in opposite directions, 

 each turned by a boy or girl, and giving, as the result of a day's work, 

 five pounds of lint cotton. To this succeeded the foot or treadle gin, im- 

 ported from the West Indies, where they had been in use, having reached 



172613 



