122 BRAZILIAN COTTON 



The cotton here consists of " Quebradinho," " Creoula " and 

 " Verdao." The fibre is about one inch in length and sometimes 

 slightly longer. " Verdao " is preferred. 



The planting season is in February — March and picking begins in 

 August and lasts until January. 



" Annual " cotton is allowed to remain two years in the field ; 

 it yields at times after only three months. " Verdao " remains four 

 years and after the second crop it is generally pruned. 



The bales weigh 70 to 80 kilos. 



The tarefa in Sergipe is 25 by 25 bra9as of 2-20 mts. (3| tarefas 

 = 1 hectare). 



The yield of cotton was given as 90 kilos per tarefa lint of 

 " Quebradinho " and as 120 kilos of " Verdao." 



At Sao Christovao we inspected a mill with 8,000 spindles and 

 250 looms, making only white goods. There was a gin at the mill 

 which worked very badly. At Aracaju we visited two other mills. 

 Wages here are on the average 1 $500 per male and female operative. 



At Propria we visited another spinning mill with two gins having 

 40 saws, which had many broken teeth. The slanting sieve was in 

 operation. The owner liked '" Inteiro " cotton best but this is grown 

 only to a small extent, after that he liked " Verdao " and he agreed 

 that we did right in recommending the Government to distribute only 

 that seed. In the pile of cotton at this mill there was again an excellent 

 variety : it seemed a hybrid of " Inteiro " crossed with " Verdao." 



As the Sergipe mills spin 18"s on an average any of the existing 

 mixtures is good enough for them and this is probably the reason why 

 no improvement in the cotton has taken place, but we are convinced 

 that the State of Sergipe may contribute considerably to the export 

 of cotton if attention is given to separating the various qualities and 

 planting only one kind, preferably Verdao, or Riqueza, as it is called 

 here. 



