FACTORS AFFECTING PRODUCTION OF LONG-STAPLE COTTON. 5 



The form of eaiiiiiess that is of practical importance as a means of 

 aA^oiding weevil injury is represented by the setting of the crop m 

 the shortest period of time after flowering begins.^ There is no rea- 

 son to believe that the new long-staple varieties are deficient in this 

 form of earliness. Indeed, they have oiityielded short-staple varie- 

 ties in many experiments. 



The fact that the new long-staple varieties are early and produc- 

 tive and can be grown under a wider range of conditions means that 

 planters of these varieties take fewer chances of loss than with the 

 old late-maturing long-staple varieties. Wide fluctuations in the 

 prices made the planting of long-staple varieties more of a specula- 

 tion than the planting of short staples and tended greatly to dis- 

 courage long-staple production. Though long-staple planters might 

 in some seasons make more than neighbors who planted short staples 

 there were other seasons when the long staples were much less profit- 

 able than the short. But it is difficult to see how the planter of 

 early productive long-staple varieties can be placed at any serious 

 disadvantage with his neighbors. The worst that is likely to happen 

 is not to be able to sell the long-staple crop for what it is really 

 worth in comparison with short-staple cotton. 



MARKETING, A COMMUNITY PROBLEM. 



The marketing problem has to be solved before the farmer can be 

 assured of the full value of his cotton, whether long staple or short. 

 There is always somebody at hand to buy short cotton at some- 

 where near regular market prices, but only a few buyers, compara- 

 tively speaking, have the skill that is required to deal fairly in long- 

 staple cotton. The average buyer, if he handles long staples at all, 

 is afraid to pay full prices, for fear that his estimate of quality may 

 be wrong. Of the buyere who know the value of the cotton, many 

 do not feel called upon to inform the farmer, it being their idea of 

 business to buy as cheaply as possible. The greater difficulty of 

 marketing long-staple cotton to a proper advantage is one of the 

 reasons why growers have been advised to organize themselves on 

 a community basis. ^ 



SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF LONG-STAPLE PRODUCTION. 



With early long-staple varieties as productive and as easy to grow 

 as short-staple varieties there might appear to be no reason why 

 liigher prices should be paid for long staples than for short. But if 

 the buyers or manufacturers were to act on this assumption they 

 would defeat their own interests. The intrinsic value of the long 



1 Cook, O. F. Relation of drought to weevil resistance in cotton, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 220, 1911. 



2 Cook, O. F. Cotton improvement on a community basis. Yearbook, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, for 1911, p. 397-410. 



[Cir. 12.3] 



