124 BRAZILIAN COTTON 



At Pao d'Assucar (5,000 inhabitants), a port on the Sao 

 Francisco, we stopped in order to inspect the ginneries which handle 

 every year about 3,000 bales of 180 kilos. This town makes a busy 

 impression. The cotton of this district is almost identical with that 

 we saw in Sergipe. Mixture exists here as well and Verdao is the 

 best variety in it. There were also some good hybrids between 

 " Inteiro " and " Verdao." 



The bales of cotton we saw in the streets and in the port were not 

 properly covered. 



After 36 hours steamer journey we arrived at Piranhas, from 

 where we took the train to Pedra. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. L. lona, the managing director of 

 the " Companhia Agro Fabril Mercantil" at Pedra, we were enabled 

 to travel per motor cars the distance of 360km. to Garranhuns in 

 Pernambuco : this road was to a great extent constructed by this 

 cotton mill company and is kept in repair by it. Wherever we passed 

 cotton fields we stopped the cars. The cotton in these parts was 

 beginning to open and we were enabled to examine it. On our journey 

 we obtained the following information : — 



At Inhapi, municipality of Matta Grande, the yield worked out 

 to 1651b. lint per acre.* 



A mixture of Verdao, Quebradinho and Maranhao is grown, but 

 cotton alone occupies the field. 



The custom in this district is for the tenant to rent the fields at 

 10 milreis per " quadra," paying cash : a three years' agreement is 

 general. The tenant has to provide a wooden fence, a kind of wattle 

 fence ; the branches for this basket work fence are provided by the 

 trees felled when clearing the land. The cost of these fences works 

 out to 120 reis per 2-20 meters. As cattle are kept in large numbers 

 in the whole of the north, all fields have to be fenced and the wattle is 

 the one in use. 



Lagoa do Algodao : 



The only additional information to be obtained was that cotton 

 sold at the time at 1 $600 per arroba of 16 kilos. 



Sant'Anna do Ipanema : 



This is a town of considerable importance. — Before we could enter 

 it we had to get six men to repair the road, which had been washed out 

 owing to the heavy rains. The town has two ginning factories and in 

 the municipal district there are altogether 14. The cotton passing 

 through this place is estimated at 4,000 bales of 75 kilos per annum. 

 The cotton is generally carried on mule-back, one mule taking a 

 maximum load of 160 kilos to the railway stations of Garranhuns, 

 180 kilos away, or to Quebrangula, 150 kilos, at a charge of 12. $000 

 per load. 



A labourer's wage is 1 $500 per day. One of the ginners told us 

 that he pays at present 2 $500 per "arroba " of 16 kilos clean cotton 

 and 2 $000 per " arroba " for dirty cotton. 



♦In these parts they use the following measurements : — 1 quadra = 2 tarefas ; 

 I tarefa = 25 x 25 bra9as ; 1 braga = 2-20 meters. 



