AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF SOUTH AMERICA 
83 
Table 55. — Labor: Average wage for agricultural laborers in Paraguay 
DAILY 
Region 
April 
May 
June 
July 
August 
Septem- 
ber 
October 
Novem- 
ber 
Decem- 
ber 
$0. 078 
.10 
.089 
.10 
.148 
$0. 066 
.10 
.089 
$0. 055 
.106 
.089 
$0. 055 
.107 
.089 
$0. 055 
.085 
.089 
.092 
.111 
$0. 070 
.089 
.089 
.092 
.148 
$0. 070 
.118 
.089 
.074 
.148 
$0. 074 
.122 
"7692 ~ 
.148 
$0. 081 
Central . - - - 
.118 
Sud 
.089 
.074 
.148 
.185 
.148 
. 148 
MONTHLY 
$2.15 
2.23 
1.86 
2.42 
1.49 
$1.67 
2.35 
1.86 
$1.11 
2.35 
1.86 
$1. 11 
2.42 
1.86 
$1. 11 
2.47 
1.86 
2.42 
1.49 
$1.86 
1.67 
1.86 
2.23 
1.11 
$1.86 
2.79 
1.86 
1.49 
1.49 
$1.98 
2.69 
$1.98 
2. 69 
Central.. . .... 
Sud 
2.42 
1.49 
2.42 
1.86 
1.11 
1.49 
1.49 
After the cotton is picked it is exposed to the sun an hour or more 
on tarpaulins or wire screens for drying and then sorted into two 
grades, namely, firsts and seconds. Sometimes the grading is done 
at the time of picking, the picker carrying two bags for that purpose. 
Into the first grade go the clean, white, well-opened bolls, and into the 
second grade the defective bolls, immature bolls that have not fully 
opened, and boUs that are stained or colored. Very dirty bolls that 
are badly stained or colored can not be included in the first or second 
grades. Where there is a sufficient quantity they are separated into 
a third grade. 
The cotton is sold in the seed by the grower and is ginned and baled 
by the buyer and put up in bales of approximately 250 pounds or 
of 500 pounds, gross weight, the bagging and ties weighing approxi- 
mately 22^ pounds. There are no compresses in the country. The 
bagging is a much finer quality burlap than that used in the United 
States and entirely covers the bales, making a package far superior 
in appearance to the bales commonly seen in the United States. 
Samples are taken in the usual manner, by slashing a short cut in the 
bagging and extracting the sample of lint. As a matter of fact, 
very few bales were seen that had been cut for samples and then 
only in one place. The practice of butchering cotton bales for 
samples does not prevail in Paraguay. 
The method of marketing by cotton growers, as described by Senor 
Bertoni, of the National Agricultural Bank, is about as follows: 
The cotton is picked, sorted, dried, packed in burlap bags and stored 
in the grower's shed. Usually the grower expects to obtain a higher 
price by holding his product as long as possible. When he is in need 
of money, his wife or grown daughter takes a bag of cotton to the 
nearest buyer, usually an agent of the National Agricultural Bank, 
or a storekeeper in the nearest town. 
There is no standardization of cotton in Paraguay beyond the 
sorting of seed cotton at picking time. One of the obstacles that 
appears to be almost insuperable to the standardization of fiber 
