-- BUEEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 137 



adequate supplies are to be available for our manufacturers. The 

 automobile-tire industry has grown very rapidly to enormous propor- 

 tions, and the importance of using the best raw materials in the in- 

 terest of strength and durability of the fabric is acutely appreciated. 

 The substitution of extra-staple cotton for linen and silk in aero- 

 plane wings and balloon fabrics renders it still more necessary that 

 an adequate production of these high-class raw materials be main- 

 tained in the United States, not only because it is dangerous to 

 remain dependent on cotton from Egypt or other foreign countries, 

 but because our natural conditions and the abilities of our farmers 

 are most favorable to the development of special branches of the 

 cotton industry. Cotton that formerly went to Europe from Haiti, 

 Brazil, and Peru is now coming to the United States, but these 

 supplies are likely to prove temporary and should not keep us from 

 developing our home resources of long-staple production. 



AN UPLAND LONG-STAPLE TO REPLACE SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



The development of a remarkable Upland variety, called Meade, 

 with lint closely similar to the Sea Island cotton in length and 

 quality, may make it possible to maintain the production of extra- 

 staple cotton in the Southeastern States. The Meade cotton is much 

 earlier than the Sea Island and has yielded more than twice as much 

 in alternate planting with Sea Island under weevil conditions. The 

 fiber attains a length of 1^ inches or more under favorable conditions. 

 The crop is harvested in the same manner and ginned with the same 

 machinery as Sea Island, so that the substitution causes no change 

 in the customary methods of handling Sea Island cotton either at 

 the gin or on the markets. It was sold at Savannah in 1917 on the 

 same footing as Sea Island. The percentage of lint is low because 

 the seeds are larger than in other varieties, but the percentage of oil 

 is correspondingly high. Supplies of pure seed are being increased 

 as rapidly as possible, enough for about 500 acres being available for 

 the season of 1918. 



LONE STAR COTTON. 



The Lone Star variety, bred by this department in northern Texas, 

 belongs to the general type of " Texas big-boll " cottons, with 

 Triumph and Rowden. In competition with these the Lone Star has 

 become the most popular sort in many districts of Texas, Oklahoma, 

 and other States. It now figures largely in many centers of produc- 

 tion, is very favorably known in the market, and generally commands 

 a premium over other short staples on account of the superior fiber, 

 a length of 1-^ inches often being attained under favorable conditions. 

 The advantage to the farmer of a general substitution of Lone Star 

 for other varieties in the districts around Greenville, Hunt County, 

 Tex., has been estimated at about $700,000. 



The Lone vStar variety is being made the bnsis of a special effort to 

 extend the use of single varieties in entire communities in Texas and 

 adjacent States. The Greenville community, where a cotton-breeding 

 station has been maintained for several years by the Department of 

 Agriculture, is serving as a center of interest and cooperation in 

 maintaining the uniformity of the stock and producing supplies of 

 pure seed in practical quantities. 



07335°— A(iR 191S 10 



