234 COTTON CULTURE 



varying according to the commercial differences in use where the 

 cotton is marketed. 



Other names are used to describe the different classes of colored 

 cotton. The grades of white cotton, however, are the foundation 

 of all these other classes. When the cotton is not white its nature 

 or class is customarily indicated by adding to the grade the words 

 "off color," "spotted," "yellow tinged," or "yellow" or "blue 

 stained," as the case may be. In other words, at some markets 

 there may be several classes of the same grade of cotton; e.g., 

 Middling off color, Middling spotted, Middling yellow tinged, or 

 Middling yellow or blue stained. 



Destination of the Crop. Most of the cotton crop of the United 

 States ultimately reaches the mills of New England, Canada, and 

 Europe. The larger cotton houses in the American trade have 

 direct foreign connections. On the other hand, they have buyers 

 at many of the small towns and railroad stations of their district, 

 and thus the transfer of the crop from the farmer to the foreign 

 market is completed. Although about one-half of the American 

 cotton goods is manufactured in the Carolinas and adjacent States, 

 by far the largest part of the crop is shipped as raw material out 

 of the section in which it is produced. 



Insect Enemies of Cotton. Among the insects which damage 

 the cotton crop the most important are the Mexican boll-weevil and 

 the boll-worm. Others are the nematode worm, the cutworm, the 

 cowpea pod-weevil, the red spiders, plant lice and caterpillars. 



The Mexican Boll-weevil (Anthonomus grandis). The boll- 

 weevil is the most destructive of all insects to American cotton. 

 In the southwest portion of the cotton belt, this insect at times 

 reduces the crop by at least 50 per cent. The weevil is small, 

 usually not more than % of an inch in length, and dark brown 

 or black. Its attacks are confined almost entirely to the squares 

 and bolls, which are eaten from without by the mature weevil and 

 from within by the larvaB. 



Preventive Measures. The most effective practical measures of 

 combating the boll-weevil are the following : 



(1) Burning the old cotton stalks and other litter which harbor 

 the insects through the winter. 



(2) Forcing the crop to an early maturity, thus producing a 

 large number of bolls before the weevils can attack. 



