CoTTox Growing in Arizona 



271 



is open to allow the gathering of 500 to 700 pounds of seed cotton per 

 acre at the first picking. In nearly all cases it will be advisable to 

 pick the fields two or three times before the gathering of the crop is 

 complete. Care should be taken in picking to see that no dirt, leaves, 

 sticks, or other trash gets mixed with the fiber. It is extremely diffi- 

 cult to separate the dirt from the fiber in a roller gin, and dirty cotton 

 always brings a low price. With short-staple cotton, leaves and other 

 trash can be separated to a considerable extent. Saw gins are used 

 with short-staple cotton. 



\^OLUNTEERING OR RATOONING 



The volunteering or ratooning of cotton for two or three years in 

 succession from the same planting was practiced in Egypt a good many 

 years ago, but has been abandoned there. It has been tried in this 





IM^"^:^ 



f 



Fig. 4 — Volunteer cotton (the 1919 crop from 1917 planting). Volunteering 



cotton does not pay 



State with varying results. The practice is to be condemned for sev- 

 eral reasons. In many seasons the volunteer stand of cotton is insuf- 

 ficient to produce a maximum yield. Usually the fiber produced from 

 volunteer cotton is shorter and weaker than the fiber produced from 

 cotton planted each year. In addition to these difficulties, the practice 

 of volunteering cotton favors the increase of injurious insect pests and 

 the development of troublesome cotton diseases. The practice has 

 much to condemn it and very little to favor it. It is only under the 

 most extreme or unusual conditions that the volunteering of cotton will 

 pay. 



