76 THE GOLD COAST 



they are similar to Sea Island and Egyptian, having, 

 perhaps, arisen from the same original stock. The forms 

 mentioned as cultivated locally attain the height of from 

 seven to ten feet in nine months from the time of planting, 

 and the stem near the base is often thicker than a 

 man's wrist. The cotton bolls continue to open for three 

 months or more, and often as many as two hundred 

 bolls are produced on a single plant in one season. If 

 left for a second year the bolls are generally diminished 

 in size. The soil which appears most favourable for 

 growth is a sandy loam containing much humus. 



From January to April the bolls ripen continuously, 

 and the cotton is placed in the sun as soon as it is 

 picked, in order that the " Seed bugs " may be driven 

 out. In native markets small quantities are usually 

 exposed for sale in an unginned form throughout the 

 harvesting season. No gin seems to be in use in the 

 Gold Coast for native work, and the lint is pulled 

 off the seeds by hand when a supply is required for 

 spinning. 



The greatest damage is done by " Seed bugs " of three 

 species Oxycarenus hyalinipennis, O. Dudgeoni, and O. 

 gossipinus that infest the lint as soon as the bolls open, 

 and undergo their complete and rapid metamorphoses 

 during the period between the opening and the throwing 

 out of the cotton, feeding meanwhile upon the juices 

 which they suck from the seeds. The injury caused by 

 the puncturing of the seed often renders it unfertile. A 

 " cotton stainer " is also common on the plants, and 

 damages the unopened bolls by puncturing, and the 

 lint by a yellowish stain which it makes. This insect 

 is known as Dysdercus nigrofasciatus, and it is at least 

 four times as large as any of the species of Oxycarenus, 

 on which it may possibly feed to some extent. 



An attempt was evidently made, in the middle of the 

 last century, to establish the cultivation of cotton for 

 export, and Cruickshank mentions that an association 

 had taken the matter up, and that several of the native 

 chiefs were beginning to give it their attention about 

 that time. Very little success seems to have attended 

 these efforts. 



About 1903 the Government of the Gold Coast com- 

 menced the plantation of an area in the Krepi country, 



