The native cotton plant is a hardy shrub which, if allowed to reach its full height, grows to from ten to fourteen feet, though the planter usually prunes it down so that it does not exceed six or seven feet in height. The Peruvian cotton plant will live twenty years, and will bear its harvest crop after four or five years’ growth. It is the custom, however, to sow fresh seed every three or four years, as, when the plant becomes old, its harvest grows lighter each year and it is liable to “blight,” or to the attacks of parasites. The cotton fields of Piura are generally free from the ravages of insects, the only annoyance of this kind being a visitation of the _arrebiatado_, an insect which appears chiefly in the rainy season. As rain falls only once or twice in a dozen years, this evil is a minor one. Besides, the _arrebiatado_ does not attack all varieties, the Egyptian, or Upland, as it is known in the United States, being free from its onslaughts. The cotton-pickers on Piura plantations find occupation at all seasons of the year, though two principal harvests are gathered, those of St. John’s Day and Christmas; the former lasts from June to October and the latter from December to March. Men, women, and children may be seen in the cotton fields filling their sacks in the shade of the bush, which at harvest time is thick with leaves and tall enough to afford abundant shelter. Here and there are groups enjoying a little gossip as they pass one another on their way to and from the field. At the various stations along the railway, the scene is not unlike that which is met with wherever the cotton plant flourishes. The pickers of these valleys are less joyous and garrulous than are the negroes of a Mississippi or Georgia plantation,—the melodies of Dixie are more musical than the _tristes_ of these less volatile laborers,—but there is always the charm of tropical skies and luxuriant nature to brighten their faces with a smile of good-humored content. [Illustration: IRON BRIDGE OVER THE PIURA RIVER.]