The courier-index. (Marianna, Ark.) 1917-current, 1917-11-02
|HOW TO MAKE YOUR
| COTTON GRADE UP
II Must Be Harvested Promptly aro
y Handled Promptly To Get
|! Top Price.
BY w. E. Ayres, Arkansas Expert
ment Station.

Now that the cotton crop is practi
cally made 1t is necessary that it be
harvested promptly and handled
J properly. Cotton is sold on the best
markets on the basis of its grade
| Quality of lint, color. amount OF trash
land dirt, tinges and stains and gin
Ieuts are the factors which determine
1.-THE grade of a cotton sample. The
highest grades are produced by cotton
from the first picking il this picking
Es 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
piekings are necessary. Picking
should be begun as soon as 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
stop crop" opens. The frosted cot
ton should be harvested but should
never be mixed with the superior cot
ION Of earlier harvests. The same is
krue Of faulty bolls and locks and
aweathered cotton from the ground.
Have Clean Cotton.
To pick cotton free from trash re-
louires more labor than to merely
"gather" 1t. and all unnecessary trash
should be avoided Clean cotton pro-
fuces a better grade and therefore
sells for better price, Mixing in
aerior cotton with cotton of better
Equality always mean loss. This loss
is variable. but may, in extreme cases,
amount to fifteen or twenty dollars
per bale. by mixing small amounts
~ much as one hundred pounds--of
poor cotton with cotton of the first
sticking, bales are often produced
which sell for less than they would
have brought had the poor cotton
been left out.
Keep Gotten Dry.
Ample storage room should be pro-
.~ided SO that no picked cotton will
have to be exposed to the weather.
with the coming of % cent cotton the
practice Of piling picked cotton on
the ground in the neld should sure
lly cease.
| Cotton picked while wet should be
spread over the top of the pile, or on
10 sheet in the sun and dried thor
oughly. Maps and gin cuts result from
ginning wet cotton. Bales carrying
these imperfections are always bought
ut discount.
!. The back yard or lot Is too often
used as q storehouse for baled cotton
The bales are often thrown off in such
places for "few days" which last
for months Cotton so exposed alb
Isorbs 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 shed
THEY SHOULD BE KEPT DRY.
Don't Sell Cotton in the Seed
The practice of selling cotton in the
|eeed is another source of loss. No
buyer can determine the grade, the
Per cent lint. nor the shrinkage due
10 moisture. of seed cotton. For this
season all buyers of such cotton must
buy at low figures to avoid risk 1t
is a safe guess that cotton sold in
the seed brings ten dollars per bale
less than it is worth.
/ The state produced 1.134000 bales
lof cotton In 1916. worth approximate
Eiy 500. 600. 900. 1t is safe to estimate
that on such a crop no less than S.
900, 600 would have been saved by oh
|serving the six cotton don'ts:
Six Cotton oon'ts.
Don't let open cotton remain in the
fheld.
Don't harvest any more trash than
can be avoided.
Don't mix inferior cotton with that
nf 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