COTTON 499 



not the land itself), the cost of feeding stuffs, seed, 

 ginning, and baling" charges and supervision amounted to 

 $11.34, or fully 40 per cent, of the gross value of the 

 crop, leaving a balance of barely 25 per cent, to cover 

 the landlord's rent. As a matter of fact, the rent in this 

 case was exactly one-fourth of the crop under a crop- 

 sharing agreement. This tenure is very common, and 

 the landlord's share is rarely less than one-fourth. The 

 result is that under these conditions it takes 12 cents 

 per Ib. to remunerate the grower fairly. 



The situation gives some cause for anxiety, for it must 

 be remembered that while the average yield over the 

 whole of the America Cotton Belt is only about 200 Ib. 

 per acre, there are many small farmers whose yield is 

 even less. The low yield is partly due to lack of labour; 

 thorough ploughing and preparation of the ground are 

 almost impossible, and the loss due to boll weevil might 

 be considerably mitigated by picking up and burning the 

 affected " squares," for example, if labour were obtain- 

 able at a reasonable cost. Again, while the basis price 

 of Middling American cotton has in recent years touched 

 very high figures, there has been an increasing proportion 

 of low grade cotton. This, too, is largely due to the 

 insufficient labour supply. During the picking season the 

 American Cotton Belt is subject at times to very heavy 

 rains, which damage the open cotton not only directly 

 by the effect of the damp on the lint, but also indirectly 

 by splashing mud up from the ground into the open bolls. 

 This results in tinged or stained cotton, and the extent 

 of the damage is due to the fact that there is not sufficient 

 labour available to pick the cotton quickly when the 

 weather is favourable. To those accustomed as the writer 

 was to Egyptian conditions, it will be something of a 

 shock to hear of ripe cotton being left hanging on the 

 plants all through the winter, exposed to frost and rain. 

 The writer heard of cotton being picked in March of the 

 following year. 



Even if a satisfactory mechanical picker were available 

 and, unfortunately, none of the types yet placed on the 

 market can be regarded as satisfactory it would not 

 entirely meet the difficulty, which is most serious in the 

 case of the small grower. They, of course, could not 



