DURANGO COTTON IN THE IMPERIAL VALLEY. 13 



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long-staple Upland varieties have appeared at a serious disadvantage 

 in comparison with the short-staple varieties in heing later and less 

 productive and more difficult to pick because of the smaller size of 

 the bolls. But Durango cotton is as early, as prolific, and as easy to 

 pick as most of the short-staple varieties that are now being grown 

 in the cotton belt. In the Imperial Valley the Durango cotton has 

 outyielded the short -staple varieties, in addition to producing a much 

 more valuable fiber. 



The only varieties of short-staple cotton that can be said to com- 

 pete with the Durango cotton in the Southwest belong to the Texas 

 big-boll type, such as the Rowden, Triumph, and Lone Star. These 

 varieties have larger bolls than the Durango cotton, but are distinctly 

 inferior in habits of growth. When the conditions favor a luxuriant 

 development of the plants, as they usually do in the Imperial Valley, 

 the Texas big-boll varieties appear at a special disadvantage on 

 account of the weaker stalks and heavier foliage. 



The Triumph cotton, which has been the principal short-staple 

 variety in the Imperial Valley, often becomes entirely prostrate 

 before the picking season arrives, or hides the bolls under a dense 

 mass of foliage. It is often necessary to hold up the plants with one 

 hand in order to pick the cotton with the other. The heavy shade 

 also tends to keep the bolls moist, and many of them are rotted or 

 mildewed. The Durango variety has stronger stalks. The plants 

 maintain a more erect position, with the bolls much more readily 

 accessible to the picker. (Fig. 1.) 



The lighter and more open foliage renders the Durango cotton less 

 susceptible to rotting of the bolls or to discoloration of the fiber by con- 

 tact with the soil or by molding under heavy shade. The contrast in 

 foliage characters and habits of growth between the Durango and Tri- 

 umph is so striking that some of the Imperial Valley growers were able 

 to pick the two varieties separately in fields that had been planted 

 with mixed seed. Even the most unskillful picker could see the 

 difference, between the small, low, or prostrate Triumph, densely cov- 

 ered with large, leaves, and the large, upright Durango plants, with 

 their more open foliage and larger crops of bolls. 



DURANGO COTTON COMPARED WITH THE COLUMBIA. 



Several varieties of Upland long-staple cotton have, been tested in 

 the Imperial Valley in experimental plantings, so as to permit close 

 comparisons to be made between adjacent rows of the different sorts. 

 In this way it is possible to secure a much clearer idea of differences 

 of behavior than can be gamed from plantings hi separate fields. 



Under the Imperial Valley conditions Durango cotton has shown 

 marked superiority over the Columbia both in yield and in quality of 

 fiber. In 1911, 4 bales of Durango cotton were grown on less than 



[Cir. Ill] 



