Specific Marketing Problems — Cotton 29 



lecting routes are duplicated niauy tiuies iu the rei^ular course of busi- 

 ness and this in turn makes the cost of collection per pound of butter 

 fat relatively heavy. Investiij^ations show that the cost of collecting 

 butterfat ranges from about 2 cents per pound to as high as 6^ cents 

 per pound. This wide range is traceable to the fact that it is more 

 economical to collect butterfat in cream than in whole milk and also 

 it is relatively expensive to haul either cream or milk from more 

 distant points in the \'alley. As a matter of fact, motor trucks operated 

 by creameries haul milk and cream for distances as great as 50 miles. 

 The average length of haul, however, is much less than this, and prob- 

 ably does not exceed from 7 to 9 miles. Some important economies 

 could be effected by arranging a division of territory for gathering 

 purposes. It is altogether possible to add from 2 to 4 cents per pound 

 to prices paid for butterfat if waste energy be eliminated in gathering 

 milk and cream. The 35 trucks now devoted to the collection of milk 

 and cream in the Valley probably could be replaced bv 20 to 25 trucks 

 if the average territory covered by each truck were enlarged by elimin- 

 ."ting duplication of routes. 



Cotton In 191 7 the production of long staple cotton ceased to be 

 a side line in general agriculture and became one of the leading indus- 

 tries in the N'alley. I' or a number of years prior to 1917, cotton was 

 produced on a fairly extensive scale, the acreage ranging from 1,500 

 acres to c),ooo or 10.000 acres. The development of superior types of 

 cotton, the sudden realization on the part of growers that Arizona is 

 climatically suitable for the jiroduction of Egyptian long staple- cotton, 

 and the prevailing high prices paid for cotton ginned in 1916, all com- 

 bined to create a sudden flurry in the cotton industry of the Valley. 

 Several years ago it was established experimentally that long staple 

 cotton could be produced in the Valley. This information, however, 

 was not utilized immediately by farmers in the Valley, who took 

 merely a passive interest in cotton growing. When prices for long 

 staple cotton passed the 50 cent mark, however, a large number of 

 producers began to take more than a passing interest in the possibilities 

 of cotton culture. The following table shows the approximate long 

 staple cotton acreage for a period of years, together with the number 

 of bales ginned each year : 



