2 12 



by dropping cotton or dirtying it with earth or smudging it with 

 the sap from the fruit. Attempts have been made to replace hand 

 labour by machine labour in plucking, but without satisfactory 

 results. 



After the cotton has been plucked, the remainder of the plant is 

 used as fodder, which is equal in strength to wheat straw. 



Animals are fond of the cotton plant in any stage of growth but 

 not when the shrubs have died, or dried and become tasteless. 



The tough stems which are not eaten by the animals are made 

 into fibre. These are woven into a kind of sack-cloth which is very 

 suitable for the making up, of the bale> of cotton. 



Diseases and Plagues. 

 The diseases which endanger the cotton plan! are of three kinds; 



a. Diseases, due to physiological causes, amongst these are 



the mosaic-disease or the yellow-leaf disease: the autumn 

 leaf or red-leaf disease ; the falling of fruits etc. 



b. Diseases caused through fungi to which belongs amongst 



others the root-rot; cotton-leaf disease, mildew, fruit-rot; 

 etc. 



c. Nematode-disease ; root-gall. 



The greatest loss is caused the cotton planter by insects. The 

 most dangerous of these being the cotton-caterpillar (Aletia argil- 

 lacea. Hiibn.) The caterpillar which eats the fruit (Heliothis Armi- 

 ger. Hiibn.) causes also a lot of damage yet not by far to such a 

 decree as the first named. 



The loss of the cotton-planters, due to the cotton-caterpillar 

 amounted to yearly 37,500,000 guilders, and that not so very long 

 ago. In some years this amount has even been surpassed. 



This plague has now practically been mastered by having a more 

 rational culture and suitable remedies. 



In the first place the _otton planters do not exclusively plant their 

 fields with cotton but plant besides cotton, grain and fodder plants 

 on other parts of their land. 



Since the cotton plant has proved to be valuable as fodder as 

 well as for the oil industry it is not the custom now as it was once, 

 to grow that kind of cotton which has few seed and long hairs. 



Owing to the value of the seed the kind having a higher per- 

 centage of them is now usually planted although this gives less 

 cotton yet the loss is amply made up for by the other profit. 



The form and growth of these shorter varieties permit of a better 

 combat with the caterpillars. The plantation is more open. The 

 caterpillars become more conspicuous and rannot hide themselves 

 in the bushy parts, as is the case in the other kind. 



Besides a dusting with Paris green is used with good success. 

 The manner of dusting is very simple, it is done with the help of 

 two bags, hung on a stick held across a horse. In this way oncji 

 man can easily manage 8.5 to 11.4 bouws per day. Next to the 

 cotton caterpillar, the fruit-caterpillar (Heliothis armiger . Hiibn.) i? 

 the most harmful. 



