Fibres. 



426 



[May, 1909. 



with the mule cultivator ouee a week 

 when possible, the general practice being 

 the drier the weather the more frequent 

 the mulching. In some parts of Georgia 

 and Alabama there is no rain for sixty to 

 eighty days in the months of June, July 

 and August, and the Upland cotton is 

 kept alive by repeated mulching. 



During the tour through the States of 

 Georgia and Alabama few crops were 

 seen which would yield 400 lb. of lint 

 per acre, and many crops which would 

 give under 125 lb. This is a great con- 

 trast to the Delta of Egypt, where 500 

 lb. of lint or five cantars of seed cotton 

 is considered an average crop. Texas 

 cotton is inferior to Georgia and Ala- 

 bama cotton, and especially that pro- 

 duced in South- West Texas, which is 

 distinctly inferior to North and Central 

 Texas cotton. 



It is interesting to notice the supe- 

 riority of the Upland cotton produced on 

 the east of the Mississippi to that grown 

 on the west. This is specially remark- 

 able, as Gossypium hirsuLum (the Up- 

 land cotton plant) is indigenous to 

 Mexico, and not to the east of the 

 Mississippi. The cause of the marked 

 inferiority of South Texas cotton is 

 generally attributed to the high tem- 

 perature ; the same effect is seen in the 

 provinces of Upper Egypt, where Delta 

 cotton degenerates, producing harsher 

 and more brittle fibre. 



Texas requires a storm-proof, early- 

 maturing cotton. There is much wind 

 at the time of harvest, and unless the 

 variety is storm-proof, much of the crop 

 is lost by falling from the open bolls. 

 Earliness is also necessary, as all late 

 cotton in Texas is destroyed by the 

 cotton boll-weevil. The best variety is 

 " Triumph," which is a short-stapled 

 Upland cotton of good quality, gives 

 large yields, and is early-maturing and 

 storm-proof. At one time, " King " cotton 

 was extensively grown in Texas, but this 

 variety has been largely superseded by 

 "Triumph," which is superior in quality, 

 and yields a much higher percentage 

 of lint to seed. "King" cotton is useful 

 when circumstances pi event early plant- 

 ing, as it matures rapidly ; but it should 

 not be grown under ordinary conditions, 

 as the quality of its fibre is low and the 

 percentage of lint frequently under 

 thirty. 



Markets, Transport, Labour, etc.— The 

 chiet ports for marketing Upland cotton 

 are Galveston and New Orleans. When 

 in New Orleans, several days were spent 

 at the"Cottou Exchange," where, in 

 conversation with many prominent 

 factors and cultivators of this crop, it 

 was surprising to find that a very small 



amount of attention is paid in classifica- 

 tion to quality of fibre, the grade being 

 fixed entirely on a basis of colour and 

 freedom from broken leaves or dirt. 

 Much of the late-harvested cotton is 

 greatly damaged by frost-strain, which 

 gives the fibre a characteristic rust 

 colour, thereby reducing its value by at 

 least 50 per cent. 



The cultivators in the United States 

 consider the second picking superior to 

 the first, as the first picking always 

 contains a larger percentage of sand and 

 soil, the result of rain " spluttering " 

 the lower bolls. In Egypt, and where 

 cotton is grown under irrigation, the 

 first picking is always considered the 

 best, as the cotton does not suffer this 

 damage. 



The system of handling Upland cotton 

 in America is disgraceful ; the bale-cover- 

 ings are of the cheapest material and 

 quite inadequate to protect the fibre or 

 hold it together. The amount of loss in 

 transit from the farm to the spinner 

 must in many cases exceed 3 per cent, of 

 the original weight of the bale. The 

 compress sheds, docks, and railway sheds 

 are simply littered with cotton, and it 

 is stated that many of the cotton factors 

 pay their office expenses from the 

 samples they draw and the cotton 

 collected from the floors of their com- 

 press sheds and docks. The farmers are 

 largely responsible for this loss, as they 

 refuse to pay for better bale-covering. 

 The same thing would probably exist in 

 Egypt if the fellahiu baled their own 

 cotton instead of selling it unginned to 

 the ginning firms, who supply bags for 

 the seed-cotton and bale the product 

 with a good cover after it has been 

 ginned. The advantage of this system 

 of handling the crop lies principally in 

 the cotton bale not being opened until it 

 reaches the spinner, whereas, in America, 

 bales are cut open, sampled and com- 

 pressed, passing through many hands 

 before reaching their final destination. 



The scarcity of labour is the most 

 serious question connected with cotton 

 cultivation in the United States, and in 

 the last twelve years the cost has 

 increased by 50 per cent. It is extremely 

 difficult in many districts to obtain 

 adult male black labour at a dollar per 

 day as a minimum. 



During late years railway work has 

 commanded much of the labour of the 

 country, and the ordinary farmer is 

 unable to pay from 6s. 3d. to 8s. 4d. per 

 day with board and lodging, which is 

 the common rate on railway construc- 

 tion work. Many of the farmers are 

 hoping that matters will be adjusted 

 when this class of work is completed, 

 but there is much work in lumbering 



