Fibres. 



[July, 1909. 



convenient position in the field, and is 

 usually all the drying the cotton gets. 

 Of course, no cotton is gathered under 

 wet weather conditions. Should rain 

 take place before the cotton is placed 

 under cover, then a further drying 

 process is imperative. 



It must be expected that cotton so 

 rapidly picked is not as free from leaf 

 and dirt as in the case of the slower 

 process ; nevertheles, the American 

 buyer is content to have his article in 

 this form, and no diminution of value 

 ensues as the result of a little foreign 

 matter in the fibre, which is practically 

 unavoidable under the circumstances. 



In Queensland Ave have erred too 

 much in our method of picking and 

 drying of this crop. My remarks here 

 refer only to the Upland and low-priced 

 fibres. Such high-quality cotton as Sea 

 Island must have very much more care 

 taken in its picking and preparation for 

 market. Upland cotton then is easy to 

 gather, particularly if the pickets do 

 not enter the field to look for cotton. 

 Too often our growers start their hands 

 into the field, and, after rambling about 

 all over the rows, they have little to 

 show for their time. This practice is 

 often indulged in by those unfamiliar 

 with the pursuit, who have lent the ear 

 to needless warnings of danger from 

 over-exposure to weather, wet or dry 



My local experience is that the weather 

 rarely injures a cotton crop when fit for 

 gathering. Cotton, if well opened, will 

 stand heavy rain with little injury. It 

 is when the pods are partly opened, and 

 lodgement is found for the wet, that the 

 greater damage is inflicted. However, 

 this is a misfortune not of ten experienced 

 here, the reverse being too often the 

 case, since the absence of rain is a more 

 dreaded feature of agrarian interests 

 than surplus moisture, which may, in 

 any serious degree, menace a cotton 

 crop. 



Stained cotton also is sometimes 

 referred to as an undesirable feature of 

 the crop, and too much has been said 

 about the liability of the Queensland 

 crop to this risk. Rarely, if ever, does 

 the cotton come to hand in commercial 

 quantities where this objection can be 

 raised. Cotton which is stained is 

 seldom gathered, nor does it pay the 

 picker to trouble with any cotton but 

 the clean, ripe, and well-opened. Stained 

 cotton, unless the discolouration be due 

 to the depredations of beetles, is rarely 

 seen in Queensland, is usually due to 

 weather or boll worm attack, and, so 

 far, in very limited quantity, hence 

 it is never considered profitable to 

 bother with any fibre but that which 

 is of first quality. This simplifies and 



accelerates very much the operation of 

 gathering. Last season's cotton w&s 

 gathered in satisfactory condition after 

 three months ' exposure to the weather, 

 no reduction in value being enforced on 

 the grower. This disproves the idea 

 expressed by those unacquainted with 

 cotton that it is too tender in its nature 

 to stand long exposure without detri- 

 ment to its value. Here, with our dry 

 warm Summer and Autumn weather, 

 when the cotton opens out, the condi- 

 tions for successful harvesting are ideal 

 ones, no other cotton country having 

 any conditions superior to ours in this 

 respect, 9ave perhaps Egypt, where rain 

 rarely falls, and the crops cannot be 

 produced otherwise than by an expensive 

 system of irrigation. 



In pointing out, as here stated, the 

 most economical methods of picking 

 cotton, it will, I trust, be understood 

 that in no sense is it laid down that the 

 crop cau just be hustled in without any 

 care or supervision. It is not judicious 

 nor safe to neglect ordinary precautions 

 in preparing the fibre in good order and 

 condition, tor this, in justice to the 

 buyers, must be attended to. Hitherto 

 we have undoubtedly erred on the other 

 side, and in our extreme anxiety to have 

 our article in top condition, we have 

 materially and unnecessarily increased 

 the cost of production. The American 

 has no such scruples, and thus is enabled 

 to handle his 200 to 300 lb. of cotton per 

 hand with ease. Again, his field oper- 

 ations are also much less extended than 

 ours, whereby he saves labour at points 

 where our methods are superfluous. 



Briefly stated, in the United States, 

 the planter sends his hands into the 

 field when the blow is good — no looking 

 for fibre. The pickers gather with their 

 usual 3peed, the picking bag, as hereto- 

 fore described, is emptied on to a laige 

 sheet, which is about all the drying the 

 cotton receives. This remains on the 

 sheet until noon oc till the day's work 

 is over. The four corners of the sheet 

 are then drawn together, and the cotton 

 therein carried to the wagon located in 

 the field ready for it. Often the fibre is 

 carried direct from the pickers ' bags to 

 the wagon. It is here weighed and 

 loaded. When the wagon is transferred 

 and filled, the mules are hitched in, and 

 the team pulls the vehicle to the ginuery, 

 located in the most central position 

 convenient to the general body of 

 planters. 



On arrival at the ginnery the load is 

 placed on a weighbridge and recorded. 



Subsequently a suction tube, operated 

 by a fan, is lowered into the wagon and 

 the contents are rapidly drawn into the 

 battery of gins operating in the build- 



