The Mena weekly star., 1917-08-30
HOW ID MAKE YOUR
 COTTON GRADE UP
Must Be Harvested Promptly and Handled Promptly To Get
 Top Price.
By W. E. Ayres, Arkansas Experi.
 ment Station.

D9 w h. AyTeSf ATkdnSds EApefl-
 ment Station.
 Now that the cotton crop is practi. eally made it is necessary that it be harvested promptly and handled properly. Cotton is sold on the best markets on the basis of it's grade. Quality of lint, color amount of trash and dirt. tinges and stains. and gin cuts are the factors which determine the grade of a cotton sample. The highest grades are produced by cotton from the first picking if this picking is done at the proper time and with proper care.
 Three Pickings Necessary.
 If the cotton crop is to be harvested in the best condition at least three pickings are necessary. Picking should be begun as soon as a good picker can pick 125 pounds per day. A second picking should be made when three-fourths to fve-sixths of the crop is open. A third picking should be made before the frosted "top crop opens. The frosted cot ton should be harvested but should never be mixed with the superior cot ton of earlier harvests. The same is true of faulty bolls and locks and weathered cotton from the ground.
 Have Clean Cotton
 To pick cotton free from trash re- quires more labor than to merely gather" it, and all unnecessary trash should be avoided. Clean cotton pro duces a better grade and therefore sells for better price Mixing in- ferior cotton with cotton of better quality always mean loss. This loss is variable, but may, in extreme cases, amount to fifteen or twenty dollars per bale By mixing small amounts as much as one hundred pounds-of poor cotton with cotton of the first picking. bales are often produced which sell for less than they would have brought had the poor cottoa been left out.
 Keep Gotten Dry. Ample storage room should be pro vided so that no picked cotton will have to be exposed to the weather With the coming of 9 cent cotton the practice of pling picked cotton on the ground in the field should sure ly cease.
 Cotton picked while wet should be spread over the top of the pile or on sheet in the sun and dried thor oughly Maps and gin cuts result from ginning wet cotton. Bales carrying these imperfections are always bought at discount
 The back yard or lot is too often used as a storehouse for baled cotton. The bales are often thrown off in such places for a flew days" which last for months. Cotton so exposed ab- sorbs moisture and blues (rots). Such cotton sells for eight to twenty dol lars less than it would have brought had it been properly stored. All bales should be housed or at least put off the ground under a she'd THEY SHOULD BE KEPT DRY.
 Don't Sell Cotton in the Seed.
 The practice of selling cotton in the seed is another source of loss. No buyer can determine the grade, the per cent lint, nor the shrinkage due to moisture. of seed cotton. For this reason all buyers of such cotton must buy at low figures to avoid risk. It is safe guess that cotton sold in the seed brings ten dollars per bale less than 1t is worth.
 The state produced 1,134.0O0 bales of cotton in 1916, worth approximate ly s10O,000,O00. It is safe to estimate that on such a crop no less than s5,- 100000 would have been saved by oh- serving the six cotton don'ts:
 Six Cotton Don'ts
 Don't let open cotton remain in the field.
 Don't harvest any more trash than can be avoided
 Don't mix inferior cotton with that of better quality.
 Don't pile picked cotton on the ground in the open.
 Don't gin damp cotton.
 Don't allow baled cotton to take the weather