146 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTTIRE, 



of planting have been devised. The methods ordinarily employed 

 are wasteful in that many more seeds must be planted in order to 

 get a stand than are necessary to produce the number of plants that 

 will be left to mature. The only value of a large part of the seed 

 planted is to pipduce nurse plants. It is frequently necessary to 

 destroy 50 to 75 per cent of the seedlings in reducing to a stand. By 

 substituting beans or peas for the cotton seed that produce these 

 surplus plants, a large waste can be avoided and two or three years' 

 time gained in increasing the selected stocks to commercial quantities. 

 This method of nurse planting and the means to be employed to 

 make it most effective are described in a report that is being pre- 

 pared for publication. 



A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR SEA ISLAND COTTON IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA. 



The production of Sea Island cotton in Georgia and Florida under 

 boll-weevil conditions seems precarious because of the slow-fruiting 

 habit of the species. A variety of Upland cotton, called Meade, 

 with the more rapid and prolific fruiting habit of Upland cotton, 

 has been developed. This has lint scarcely distinguishable in tex- 

 ture and length of fiber from that produced by the Sea Island cotton 

 of Georgia and Florida. The yield from plantings of the Meade 

 variety this season in southern Georgia in comparison with that 

 from Sea Island cotton indicates that the former may be a successful 

 substitute for the latter in that section. 



EXTENSION or COTTON FARMING IN THE SOUTHWEST. 



Under the stimulus of continued high prices, cotton farming is 

 extending rapidly in many of the irrigated valleys of the South- 

 western States beyond the supposed limits of the cotton belt, where 

 the possibility of developing a new cotton industry has been clearly 

 demonstrated in recent years by the work of this bureau. The acreage 

 devoted to Egyptian cotton in the Salt River Valley of Arizona is 

 now approximately 35,000 acres, as compared with 3,500 acres in 

 1913. In the Imperial Valley of California, where in 1900 there 

 were only 450 acres of cotton, there are now 75,000 acres, of which 

 nearly half is Durango, a long-staple Upland variety from Mexico, 

 acclimatized by this bureau. The remainder of the cotton grown 

 in this valley is of the short-staple type. In 1911 there were only 

 30 acres of cotton in the Yuma Valley of Arizona and Califor- 

 nia, while now there are 12,000 acres, one-third of which is devoted 

 to the production of the Egyptian type and two-thirds to short 

 staple. Commercial quantities of cotton are reported also from the 

 Pecos Valley of Texas and New Mexico, the upper San Joaquin 

 and upper Colorado River Valleys of California, the Pahrump Val- 

 ley of Nevada, and the Virgin Valley of Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. 



The agricultural and commercial problems of this new industry 

 in the Southwestern States are being solved through growers' co- 

 operative organizations. It has been found that the dry climate 

 affords a protection against invasion by the boll Aveevil and allows 

 the cotton, which is of high quality, to be harvested in a condition 

 that commands special prices in the market. These advantages 



