COTTON FARMING IN THE SOUTHWEST. 13 



of uniformity in long-staple cottons. To secure uniformity two 

 kinds of precautions are necessary. The seed that is planted must 

 come from a uniform stock, and the plants must be grown under uni- 

 form conditions. The latter requirement is more easily met, of 

 course, where water can be supplied by irrigation than where the crop 

 is dependent upon rain, but successful irrigation farming requires 

 special knowledge and skill to understand the requirements of the 

 crop and to apply water to the best advantage. There is a very gen- 

 eral tendency in irrigated districts to use too much water and to 

 neglect other cultural requirements. The result is that there is 

 usually a very wide discrepancy between the actual results of irriga- 

 tion farming and those that are sometimes obtained when better 

 methods are used. 



COTTON, A HOT-WEATHER CROP. 



Cotton is a summer crop and has to be cared for through the hot- 

 test months of the year. This fact gives a direct agricultural bear- 

 ing to the question of how the farmers who are to raise the cotton are 

 to live through the heated term. Though the high temperatures are 

 not as uncomfortable in the dry climate of the Southwest as people 

 from humid climates expect, the summer season involves a strain 

 that some are unable to withstand. The utilization of cotton or 

 any similar crop is likely to depend very largely on the ability of the 

 farmer and his family not merely to exist and preserve a land title 

 through the summer but to hve in a normal manner, so that the 

 necessary attention to crops can be given. It is quite as necessary 

 that the farmer learn how to adapt himself to clmiatic conditions as 

 to plant the right crops or to care for them in the right way. 



If it is not possible for the farmer to live and work through the 

 summer without too much hardship or danger to the health of him- 

 self and his family, the raising of cotton can not be advised, or even the 

 occupation of the land by people who are to depend on such crops for 

 a living. Questions of housing, rest, and food for the farmer and his 

 family are of agricultural importance no less than the needs of the 

 animals and plants that are laised on the farm. Even the annuals 

 have to be spared from labor and protected from overheating when 

 the weather gets too hot. In the eastern part of the cotton belt 

 efforts are being made to induce the farmer to give better housing to 

 his cotton bales, instead of leaving them out to be damaged by wet 

 weather. But in the Southwest it is the farmer and his family who 

 need better housing to afford protection against the hot weather that 

 otherwise interferes too much with agricultural activity. 



The use of the farmer's personal resources of health and strength 

 needs to be considered, as well as the results of different expenditures 



[Cir. V.y2] 



