234 COTTON CULTURE 



" barely." Thus the grade " middling " would finally be classified 

 as strict middling, fully middling, middling, barely middling. 



The greater part of the upland cotton is classified according to 

 the following grades which are arranged in the order of their value : 



(1) Strict good middling. 



(2) Good middling. 



(3) Strict middling. 



(4) Middling. 



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 

 Iarva3. 



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. 



