440 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



can be obtained by marketing through other channels are factors in 

 determining the desirability of direct marketing. 



Field studies have been made in the vicinity of Seattle, Wash,; 

 Portland, Oreg. ; San Francisco and Los Angeles, Cal. ; St. Louis, 

 Mo.; Dallas, Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, Tex.; 

 Greenville, S. C. ; Pittsburgh, Pa. ; and Syracuse, N. Y. These 

 studies were.- made in order to determine further the possibilities of 

 marketing direct from producers to consumers, and to ascertain the 

 relative success of efforts that have been made to popularize direct 

 marketing either by parcel post or express. The information thus 

 obtained, based as it is on actual experience and observation, is much 

 needed, and the diffusion of such information should be of assistance 

 to people throughout the country. 



Farmers' Bulletin 594, Shipping Eggs by Parcel Post, has been 

 revised and issued as Farmers' Bulletin 830, Marketing Eggs by 

 Parcel Post. 



COTTON HANDLING AND MARKETING. 



Studies and demonstrations relating to cotton handling and mar- 

 ketii:ig are conducted under the supervision of Mr. Fred Taylor. 

 Most of the work forms a continuation of that reported last year. 



COOPERATH'E HANDLING AND MARKETING OF COTTON. 



The studies in Arkansas, California, and North Carolina have been 

 continued and results have been checked with those of 191G. They 

 have shown definitely that when farmers knew the grade and staple 

 of their cotton before sale, better prices were obtained. Details 

 have been published in Department Bulletin 476, A Study of Cotton 

 Market Conditions in North Carolina with a View to their Improve- 

 ment, and in Department Bulletin 458, Handling and Marketing 

 Durango Cotton in the Imperial Valley. This work has been ex- 

 tended into the States of Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and 

 Texas, special effort being made everywhere to demonstrate the de- 

 sirability and practicability of knowing the grade and staple of 

 cotton before sale by farmers, the value of selling in even-running 

 lots of grade and staple, the disadvantage of short-staple varieties, 

 and their effect on the average price paid for the cotton of the 

 community. 



An investigation was made to determine whether cotton could be 

 accurately classed with samples drawn during the process of ginning. 

 Comparisons were made with tests involving 8,026 bales by classing 

 independently samples drawn during ginning and samples cut from 

 the bale. Much variation was found between the grades of the sam- 

 ples from identical bales, while the average grade of the tw^o entire 

 lots of samples w^as found to be very similar. In order to verify the 

 results of this test, and to form a basis for possible recommendation, 

 further work will be necessary. 



Incidental to work conducted with gins Farmers' Bulletin 764 

 was published under the title of Cotton Ginning Information for 

 Farmers. 



