454 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tee, were classified on the basis of the tentative standards for this 

 cotton prepared during the season of 1914-15. Apparently these 

 tentative standards thus far have proved satisfactory as a basis for 

 the handling of this class of cotton. 



Work also was continued in cooperation with the Imperial Valley 

 Long Staple Cotton Growers' Association in the classifying of their 

 cotton. Owing to the extreme brightness of this cotton as compared 

 with cotton produced in other sections of the country it was found 

 necessary to assist the association in the preparation of types repre- 

 senting the different qualities of cotton handled by the association as 

 a basis for their transactions with the buyers. 



COMPARISON OF LIVERPOOL COTTON STANDARDS WITH THE OFFICIAL COTTON 

 STANDARDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



A complete set of Liverpool standards, effective September 1, 1916, 

 covering American, Texas, and Gulf cotton, recently received by the 

 Department of Agriculture, was carefully compared w^ith the official 

 cotton standards. The Liverpool standards as a whole are brighter 

 in color and carry more leaf. Also, they allow less color in the 

 grades below Middling. 



ADOPTION OF THE OFFICIAL STANDARDS BY THE ROTTERDAM COTTON EXCHANGE. 



To promote the use of a universal standard of grade for American 

 cotton, sets of the official cotton standards of the United States have 

 been forwarded to the principal cotton markets of the world. This 

 has resulted in the official adoption of these standards by the Rotter- 

 dam Cotton Exchange, and they are hereafter to be used as the basis 

 of settlement of all contracts involving American cotton dealt in on 

 that market. 



DEMONSTRATIONS OF STANDARDS. 



Demonstrations of the use of the standards, with a view to show- 

 ing organized communities the advantages of classing cotton before 

 sale, were conducted in 22 counties in North Carolina; at Orange- 

 burg, Easley, St. Matthews, and Sumter, S. C. ; Dublin and Jef- 

 ferson, Ga. ; Little Rock, Scott, Camden, Forest City, and each of 

 the four district agricultural schools in Arkansas; Altus and Blair, 

 Okla. ; Sweetwater, Waxahachie, Bryan, and Tyler, Tex. Repre- 

 sentatives of the bureau were stationed in these places, who showed 

 the farmers how to class their cotton, and who kept records of sales, 

 prices, and other pertinent facts. One hundred and twenty-five sets 

 of copies of the standards also were furnished to demonstration 

 agents of the States Relations Service. 



COTTON TESTING. 

 MANtTFACTUBING TESTS ON THE OFFICIAL COTTON STANDARDS. 



Tests that were in progress last year at commercial mills at Fall 

 River, Mass., as well as the tests that were in progress at the New 

 Bedford Textile School, New Bedford, Mass., and at the North 

 Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, West 



