14 CIRCULAK NO. 130, BUEEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



acclimatized before the public can be expected to adopt the new crop, 

 or even to appreciate its possibilities. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The measures of improvement suggested in the preceding pages 

 niay be summarized as follows: 



(1) The investigation of new long-staple varieties of cotton and 

 improved cultural methods^ or, if necessary, the development of new 

 varieties and methods specially adapted to Louisiana conditions. 



Early long-staple varieties and cultural methods that induce earlier 

 fruiting have been developed recently by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, following a series of experiments in the drier parts of Texas 

 and in irrigated districts of Arizona and California. But both the 

 varieties and the methods are new and their value for Louisiana is 

 still unknown. The possibilities of maintaining the long-staple 

 industry in Louisiana or of utilizing the sugar lands for long-staple 

 cotton must be determined by experiments under the local conditions. 



(2) The organization of cotton-growing communities in order to 

 secure more adequate protection against the boll weevil, produce 

 uniform staples, and market the crop to better advantage. 



The presence of the boll weevil introduces another variable factor 

 into the cotton problem. Cotton being no longer a " sure " crop, 

 the agricultural basis of the credit system of farming is impaired 

 and the resulting disturbance of economic conditions is much more 

 serious than could have occurred with any crop less confidently re- 

 lied upon. This explains why social and economic considerations 

 enter so largely, especially in a State like Louisiana, where the dan- 

 ger of weevil injury is greatest. 



(3) The education of the consumer regarding the value of long- 

 staple cotton as a means of securing strength and durability in 

 clothing and other textile products. 



Though no adequate development of the long-staple cotton indus- 

 try is to be expected while the substitution of inferior cotton con- 

 tinues, this substitution is so w^asteful industrially and so costly 

 for the consuming public that it can hardly be allowed to continue 

 indefinitely. 



(4) The acdrmatization of other tropical crops^ so that cotton 

 culture in Louisiana may become a branch of a safer and more 

 diversified system of agi'iculture. 



Tropical crops are especially indicated as a means of taking ad- 

 vantage of the local conditions of climate and soil that exist in 

 Louisiana and also to avoid the competition of other States which 

 have more favorable conditions for temperate crops. The agi-icul- 

 tural resources of Louisiana will not be fully known until the possi- 

 bilities of acclimatizing other tropical crops have been thoroughly 

 tested. 



ICir. ]:J0] 



