Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/215

COTTON States in 1920 345,314,126 pounds of unmanufactured cotton, valued at $156,918,719. The largest quantity of this was received from Egypt. Other countries from which cotton was imported were Mexico, Peru, China, and British India. There were exported from the United States in 1920 6,915,408 bales, weighing 3,543,743,487 pounds, valued at $1,381,707,502. In 1919 there were exported 5,353,895 bales, valued at $873,579,669. Cotton growing has been greatly developed in recent years in Egypt. In 1919 there were grown about 1,188,000 bales of 500 pounds each. The Brazilian crop in the same year was estimated at 1,600,000 bales; the Mexican crop at 120,000 bales; and the Spanish crop at 11,200 bales. The world's production of cotton in 1918 was approximately 18,000,000 bales of 500 pounds each, and the consumption for the year 1919 was approximately 15,970,000 bales. The total number of spindles in the world was placed at 150,000,000.



South Africa is undoubtedly destined to become a large producer of cotton. About 12,000 acres were planted in 1919.

Cotton is affected by a variety of insect pests and stringent measures have been taken in recent years to destroy these. The bollworm and the bollweevil are especially destructive. A World's Cotton Conference was held in New Orleans in 1919 with the purpose of adopting the uniform size of the bale, finding new sources of cotton, and bringing about uniform classification, etc. According to data submitted at this conference there were more than 6,000,000 persons engaged in the cotton industry throughout the world and about $20,000,000 was invested in the growing, sale, and manufacture of cotton.  COTTON-GRASS, a name given to the species of the genus Eriophorum, because of their fruit being clothed at the base with a silky or cotton-like substance. It really belongs, not to the grasses, but to the sedges (Cyperaceæ). There are several species; the most common is Eriophorum angustifolium, the narrow-leaved cotton grass. Paper and the wicks of candles have been made of its cotton, and pillows stuffed with the same material. The leaves were formerly used in diarrhœa, and the spongy pith of the stem for the removal of tapeworm.  COTTON INSECTS. There are a great many insects that do injury to cotton, among them the cotton worm, the budworm, the bollworm, the yellow bear, the io, and the bogworm. Perhaps the most injurious of these is the cotton worm, the ravages of which first began to be noticed in the United States early in the last century. The insect is the larva of a nocturnal moth, and is thought to have had its origin in South America. Its destructions have sometimes covered whole districts, a Government report of 1879 estimating the loss due to its despoliations as averaging nearly $20,000,000 each season. The moth makes its journeys during the night and deposits eggs on the leaves of the cotton plant, the hatching taking place at the end of a couple of nights. The caterpillars then begin their ravages, eating up the leaves and passing from one district to another. Following a period of about sixteen days the caterpillar begins to enter the chrysalis stage, following which the female moth begins to lay eggs totaling into hundreds during the season. The generations sometimes amount to seven in a season in districts favorable to the insect, about four weeks separating one generation from another. Following the cotton worm, the budworm appears to approach next in destructiveness. It resembles the cotton insect in its various stages, being hatched oil the plant and living largely on flowers and bolls. It breeds in the winter as well as in the summer, the first three generations living chiefly in the cornfield, the fourth generation making its appearance on the cotton plant. Beetles, fleas, and bugs of various kinds are also apt to do damage to the plant. The capsid or cotton flea is a cause of apprehension in some districts. The red bug or stainer is apt to