6 CIECULAE NO. 123, BUKEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



staple is higher ])ecause finer, sti'onger, antl more durabk> articles 

 can be made from the long staples than from short. The farmer 

 should receive his share of the advantage, even if it were as easy to 

 maintain the production of long stajiles as of short staples. But in 

 reality this is far from being the case. Long-staple cotton requires 

 not only more favorable natural conditions but greater intelligence 

 and skill on the part of the farmer. If the ability needed in tliis 

 branch of agriculture is not properly remunerated it will not be enlisted. 



If a new long-staple industry is established, it must be on a very 

 different basis from the present short-staple industry. The results 

 for the first season or two with a new variety in a new district are 

 likely to be entirely deceptive. Unless special attention is given to 

 the problem of maintaining stocks of pure seed by continued selection, 

 the crop is sure to decline in quality as well as in quantity. With 

 the usual neglect of selection, crossing of varieties in the field, and 

 admixture of seed at public gins, the uniformity of an improved stock 

 is usually lost before it has been out of the breeder's hands for more 

 than two or three years. Degeneration becomes apparent in long- 

 staple varieties sooner than in short staples, because the require- 

 ment of uniformity is higher. Spinners can not use mixtures of 

 long and short cotton, so that bales representing a mixture of long 

 and short varieties have less value than the same amount of short 

 cotton alone. It is a mistake to suppose that a successful long- 

 staple industry can be maintained by the ordinary methods of cotton 

 farming. 



As yet there are very few farmers who appreciate the importance 

 of preventing admixture of seed of different varieties at the gin or 

 crossing in the field. While improvements in this direction may be 

 expected, the change is likely to be very gradual and to become 

 effective only in communities that specialize on the jiroduction of a 

 single superior variety of cotton. If the uniformity of superior 

 stocks is preserved, the seed can usually be sold at a higher price, as 

 well as the fiber. Community organization is as necessary for main- 

 taining pure stocks of seed as for marketing the crop to best advan- 

 tage. Any effective encouragement of long-staple production by 

 commercial or manufacturing interests is likely to come about through 

 cooperation with organized communities of farmers who will limit 

 themselves to a single superior variety of cotton. Desultory plant- 

 ings of long staples by scattered individual farmers are likely to 

 produce only a ])recarious su])i)ly, ii-regular alike in quality and 

 quantity. Improved methods have been developed which simj)lify 

 the work of selection and renchn- it more effective, but all such work 

 must have a basis of thorough familiarity with the variety.^ 



'Cook, O. F. Cotton selection on the farm by the oharaelers of ttie stalks, leaves, and bolls. U.S. 

 Dejjartment of Agriculture, iUireau of I'lanl Industry, Circular tiG, 1910. 



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