162 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



around Greenville, Hunt County, Tex., luul thus maintain the 

 central nucleus of pure-seed production of this variety. The idea of 

 coninuinity growin«^ and marketinfj of Lone Star cotton is extending 

 rapidly in nortliorn Texas, and several commercial seed firms are 

 taking up the handling and ginning of Lone Star exclusively, which 

 is also encouraging the production of this variety on a community 

 basis. It is estimated that about 1,250,000 acres were planted to 

 Lone Star in 1920. 



Acala cotton in Oklahoma. — Acala, a big-boll type of cotton, 

 acclimatized from Mexico by this bureau, is distinct from any of our 

 native varieties and is somewhat earlier than Lone Star or Triumph, 

 producing a similar abundance of lint, with a somewhat longer 

 staple and often a higher yield. Though equal to any of the Texas 

 varieties in stormproof quality, it is easy to pick, and the cotton 

 comes out clean from the bolls because the fibers of each lock adhere 

 firmly together. It is valued especially in Oklahoma on account of 

 earliness and drought resistance and because the fiber sells more 

 readily and brings a higher price than any other cotton adapted 

 to general cultivation in that State. Buyers last year paid premiums 

 of from $15 to $40 a bale for Acala cotton in the Oklahoma markets. 

 Several seedsmen are adopting the Acala cotton as a specialty for 

 Oklahoma and northern Texas, and from present indications this 

 variety will be grown on a very large scale as soon as adequate 

 supplies of pure seed can be produced. 



Meade cotton. — Meade cotton is a new Upland long-staple variety 

 developed by the Bureau of Plant Industry which is now replacing 

 the Sea Island cotton in Georgia and South Carolina. The effort 

 to maintain the seed supplies and extend the production of seed is 

 being continued, in spite of the fact that many of the farmers have 

 failed to keep their seed pure or have sold their seed at high prices 

 for shipment to other States or export to foreign countries. But in 

 view of the continued success of the variety it is believed that Meade 

 cotton will be grown in the Sea Island districts in preference to any 

 other. In one community nearly 600 acres of Meade cotton are 

 planted together. About 2,000 acres are being inspected and rogued 

 as the basis of a pure-seed supply, out of a total of about 5,000 

 acres in Georgia and South Carolina. 



Extension of Egyptian cotton. — High prices for Egyptian cotton 

 have led to greatly increased production in Arizona and California. 

 Some of the 1919 crop sold for more than $1 per pound. The Pima 

 variety of Egyptian cotton is now being grown extensively in the 

 Salt River, Gila, and Yuma Valleys of Arizona and in the Imperial 

 and San Joaquin Valleys of California, with a total of nearly 250,000 

 acres planted in 1920 and a prospective crop value of from $50,- 

 000,000 to $100,000,000. Commercial demand for this class of fiber 

 is increasing with the supply, and the competition of automobile-tire 

 manufacturers for the Pima crop has become so keen that contracts 

 have been made with farmers guaranteeing a minimum price of 

 60 cents a pound, or even 80 cents in some cases, as well as financial 

 assistance in handling the crop during the growing and harvesting 

 seasons. Confidence in the future of Egyptian cotton production 

 is also manifested in the building of large automobile-tire factories 

 at Los Angeles. The first industrial plant of this kind is being 



