BUREAU OF MARKETS. 467 



E resent emergency. In order to accomplish this, cooperation has 

 een maintained with the War Industries Board. 



Studies and demonstrations regarding the cooperative handUng and 

 marketing of cotton were made during the season of 1917-18 in North 

 Carohna. South Carohna, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, 

 Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In the course of this 

 work cotton specialists classed cotton for farmers before sale in order 

 to demonstrate the value of this practice, suggested improvements 

 in the methods of marketing, urged the growing of better varieties, 

 organized growers on a community basis, demonstrated the effect of 

 short-staple varieties in lowering prices, advocated the sale of cotton 

 in even running lots of grade and staple, and emphasized the im- 

 portance of proper ginning and the value of proper warehousing. 



In North Carolina, a survey was made to determine the character 

 of cotton consumed by cotton mills, and producers were urged to 

 grow cotton needed by the manufacturers. Studies of the operation 

 of the warehouse acts of South Carolina and Arkansas were made in 

 those States. 



Assistance was given in organizing a farmers' association at Sumter, 

 S. C, through wliich approximately 15,000 bales of cotton were 

 classed and marketed. Growers of long-staple cotton in Mississippi 

 were assisted to organize, and growers in 14 counties in Texas and 2 

 counties in Oklahoma were helped in forming associations for the 

 growing of one variety of cotton on a community basis. 



The studies conducted by this project have shown that in many 

 instances local buyers are not aware of the true market value of the 

 various classes of cotton. At Altus, Okla., bids of 27 cents per pound 

 and less were made for cotton of a superior variety. Thirty-five 

 bales of this cotton were then shipped to New Orleans and sold 

 through a cotton factor for 33 and 35 cents per pound. This gave 

 great impetus to the planting of this variety in that locality. 



Approximately 75,000 bales of cotton have been classed for the 

 producers in the primary markets for the States of North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, New Mexico, Okla- 

 homa, and Texas during the past season, in order to demonstrate the 

 advantages of classing before sale. 



Investigations of the marketing of cotton in the seed before gin- 

 ning were continued in Oklahoma and extended to the States of 

 Arkansa?, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, 

 these being the only States in which this practice prevails to an ap- 

 preciable extent. The data obtained show that the sale of cotton 

 in the seed is attended by many uncertainties, making it mipossible 

 for the buyer to discruninate between the values of different qualities 

 of cotton. 



In cooperation with the project "Cotton Warehousing Investiga- 

 tions," a study was made of gm sampling under the Texas and 

 Arkansas warehouse laws. Samples of both pressed and unpressed 

 cotton were collected from 5,418 bales. The results of this investi- 

 gation indicate that this method of sampling is economically more 

 efficient than that generally empk)yed. The practice of classing 

 cotton by samples cut from the bales, however, is of long standing, 

 and the unwillingness of men m the cotton trade to revise or change 

 this custom presents a serious obstacle to bruiging about the general 

 use of gin samples. 



