BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 293 



series of varieties in different parts of the cotton belt. It has long 

 been recognized that varieties are adapted to particular conditions 

 of growth and may not show normal behavior when placed under 

 new or unfavorable conditions, but no adequate effort has been made 

 to determine the nature and extent of these supposed limitations of 

 varieties to particular conditions and the possibility of avoiding such 

 limitations by continued selection for local adjustment. 



Status of the Upland long-staple industry. — The spread of the 

 boll weevil and the extremely unfavorable climatic conditions of the 

 season of 1909 resulted in a serious decline in the Upland long-staple 

 industry of Mississippi and Louisiana. The future of this industry 

 has become a matter of much solicitude, not only to the producers of 

 the long-staple cotton, but to the manufacturers of fine fabrics, who 

 require the superior fiber. Larger quantities of cotton are being im- 

 ported from Eg}'pt, but the simultaneous decline of production in that 

 countr}" is causing very high prices. Special measures are needed, 

 therefore, to maintain this branch of the cotton industry and to ex- 

 tend it into other districts. Though other parts of the cotton belt 

 may not be able to produce a fiber equal to that of the " Delta " long- 

 staple region, other grades are likely to find a much better market 

 than in former years. 



Utilization of the Columbia cotton. — The Columbia variety, 

 originated by the Department of Agriculture several years ago, is 

 gradually gaining in popularity and is now being adopted as an early 

 type in long-staple districts where the later and less prolific varieties 

 are being excluded by the boll weevils. It has seemed advisable to 

 continue the breeding and distribution of the Columbia cotton, so that 

 it might be fully tested in all districts adapted to long-staple 

 production. 



Early long-staple varieties. — Series of long-staple varieties 

 other than the Columbia cotton developed in South Carolina have 

 been bred in Texas and Louisiana with the special purpose of develop- 

 ing the utmost degree of earliness that can be combined with the 

 production of a long fiber. It was foreseen that the lateness of the old 

 long-staple varieties would render them especially liable to injury 

 from the boll weevil, and that early short-staple varieties would be 

 likely to drive out the long-staple varieties, a change that has gone on 

 very rapidly in the last few years. The possibility of restoring and 

 maintaining the production of long-staple cotton in the presence of the 

 boll weevil now seems to depend upon the introduction of early long- 

 staple varieties like those that are now being bred and tested. 



Long-staple cotton for the Rio Grande Valley. — Experiments 

 with one of the new types of jNIexican cotton in the Rio Grande Valley 

 indicate a possibility of producing long-staple cotton in this region. 

 The Mexican cotton has sliown itself much more productive and of a 

 more uniform fiber than the United States varieties of long-staple 

 cotton grown under the same conditions. Seasonal vicissitudes are a. 

 serious difficulty, but many localities are being provided with irriga- 

 tion facilities that may prevent the loss of the crop in dry seasons 

 and maintain the quality of the fiber. Limited supplies of irrigation 

 water could probably be used to better advantage with cotton than 

 with any other crop. 



