.UARCH 1. 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



321 



perial, Brawley, Holtville, Seeley, and Calipatria take a just 

 pride in their fine churches, schools, libraries and community 

 institutions. About 500,000 acres are in cultivation — approxi- 

 mately 100,000 acres each in cotton, alfalfa, and barley, besides 

 immense tracts devoted to fruits and^vegetables and the raising 

 of over 200,000 head of cattle, sheep, horses, mules and hogs — 

 and the yearly agricultural production considerably exceeds $25,- 

 000,000. Land values vary from $65 to $150 an acre according 

 to proximity to towns and the assessed property valuation is 

 not far from $90,000,000, yet the county tax rate steadily de- 

 creased to $1.90 in 1914. 



According to a recent report of the chief engineer of the 

 Imperial Irrigation District, 1,400,000 acres may be irrigated from 

 the Colorado River. Of this vast area, 700,000 acres are in Im- 

 perial Valley proper, 500,000 acres in the delta of the Colorado 

 and 200,000 acres in Sonora, Mexico, below the Yuma Valley. 

 Thus no less than 900,000 acres of irrigable land still remain 

 undeveloped — an area that would render the nation independent 

 of long-staple cotton imports for many years to come. 



Without the need of a dam, the water for the Imperial 

 Valley irrigation system is diverted from the Colorado River 

 through a concrete head gate about 12 miles below Yuma, Ari- 

 zona, and 4 miles above the Mexican line. The main canal car- 

 ries the water through the natural channel of the Alamo River 

 to headings whence distributing canals divert it again to the 

 various farms. The main channel was originally owned by the 

 California Development Co., but during the past year the peo- 

 ple of Imperial Valley organized the Imperial Irrigation District 

 and bonded it for $3,500,000 to purchase the irrigation system. 

 As present canal facilities embrace about 574,000 acres, the 

 bonded debt is only about $6.10 per acre. The average cost of 

 irrigation water throughout the valley is about $3.50 per acre 

 a year, varying somewhat with the character of the soil and 

 the nature of the crop. 



Most of the cotton grown in the Salt River Valley, of Ari- 

 zona, has the same characteristics as the cotton grown in 

 Egypt, having been propagated from seed brought from that 

 country. It is grown on irrigated land and the average yield 

 is high, especially where the soil has been improved by alfalfa 

 and beneficial river sediments. Arizona's production for the 

 past four years has been 2,229 bales in 1913, 7,142 bales in 1014, 

 1,981 bales in 1915 and about 4,000 bales in 1916. The falling 

 off in 1915 was due to smaller planted acreage on account of 

 low cotton prices at that time. But with approximately 7,000 

 acres planted in 1916 and both demand and prices promising 

 for some time to come, the permanent establishment of th^ 

 Egyptian cotton industry in that state seems assured. 



Including the Roosevelt Dam, the government has expended 

 over $10,000,000 on the Salt River project for the benefit of 

 the people in the intensive cultivation of 219,000 acres of land 

 where climate, soil and water are virtually ideal. The present 

 cost of water for three acre feet, the usual amount required, 

 is only $1.50 a year, and it is expected that within a few years 

 it will be delivered practically free because of the sale of surplus 

 water outide the project area. There will also be a revenue 

 of $1,000,000 from 27,000 electric horse power, 10,000 of which, 

 yielding $400,000 annually, is already being consumed by mining 

 •concerns. 



There are no government lands in the Salt River Valley. 

 Every acre is in private hands and the acreage of rentable lands 

 obtainable on lease is comparatively small, but land prices are 

 still reasonable and terms of payment convenient. As the area 

 cf the project is limited, however, title to every irrigable acre 

 promises to be steadily on the increase. Improved land that is 

 being farmed costs $100 to $200 per acre, while lands for cotton 

 are still obtainable at $100 to $125 per acre. Yields per acre 

 have not equaled Imperial Valley, but they are far above the 

 average and with scientific cultivation should reach a bale per 

 acre. 



LONG-STAPLE COTTON IN 1915-16. 



T N addition to the wealth of statistics and other information 

 ■^ characteristic of previous reports of this nature, Bulletin 134, 

 recently issued by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the 

 Census, entitled "Cotton Production and Distribution, Season of 

 1915-16," contains considerable information of interest to manu- 

 facturers of automobile tire fabrics. Several quotations selected 

 from various sections of the bulletin have been pieced into the 

 following continuous narrative : 



The limited supply of cotton having a long staple, and the 

 world-wide demand for cotton of this character in the manu- 

 facture of thread and the higher grade fabrics, and recently of 

 automobile tires, have given such varieties an importance seem- 

 ingly out of proportion to the amount produced. While at one 

 time long-fiber Sea Island cotton grown in the West Indies pro- 

 vided a large part of the total used in Europe, the world's pro- 

 duction of this variety at the present time is comparatively in- 

 significant, averaging less than 100,000 bales per annum. The 

 quantity of long-fiber cotton produced in Egypt last year was less 

 than a million bales, and the quantity of upland cotton with a 

 staple of IJ'g inches or more in length produced in the United 

 States from the crop of 1915, according to the estimate of the 

 Department of Agriculture was about 825.000 bales. Long staple 

 cotton is also produced in comparatively small quantities in India, 

 Brazil, Peru, and several other countries. Altogether the total 

 of long staple cotton — that is, cotton having a fiber of 1^ inches 

 or more in length — produced throughout the world from the 

 crop of 1915 did not, in all probability, exceed 2,000,000 bales. 



The 1915 crop of Sea Island cotton is given as 91.844 running 

 bales divided as follows : Georgia, 57,572 ; Florida, 28,094 ; South 

 Carolina, 6,178. Of this total 5,824 bales were exported. Tlie 

 1916 exports, however, were only 3,580 bales. 



It might be presumed that the prices generally received for 

 Sea Island cotton would cause a large increase in the acreage, 

 but attempts to grow it in other parts of Georgia, Florida, Soi^i 

 Carolina and other. states have been so unsatisfactorj' that prac- 

 tically all efforts to raise it outside of certain well-defined areas 

 in the states named above have been abandoned. 



Of the total consumption of cotton in the United States during 

 the year ending July 31, 1916, amounting to 6,397,613 running 

 bales, 82,645 were Sea Island and 316,995 foreign. A very large 

 proportion of the foreign cotton consumed was Egyptian ; imports 

 of Egyptian cotton by American manufacturers have led to efforts 

 to grow in the United States cotton having its characteristics, 

 and some encouragement has been given the movement by the 

 success attending its culture in Arizona. 



The status of the cultivation of Egyptian varieties of cotton 

 in this country is presented in the following statement, prepared 

 by the Department of Agriculture : 



The abnormally low prices of 1914 caused a greatly diminished 

 acreage to be planted to Egyptian cotton in Arizona in 1915. 

 The total production last year amounted to only about 1,100 

 bales of 500 pounds each. This small crop sold at a much better 

 price than in 1914, and consequently the acreage planted in 1916 

 increased to about 7,000 acres. A crop of about 4,000 bales is 

 anticipated this year. The improvement in methods of production 

 which is taking place as the farmers of Salt River Valley become 

 better acquainted with this crop will probably result in larger 

 average yields per acre than have previously been obtained. 

 * * "'■ In view of the strong demand for the type of cotton 

 (Sakellarides) with which the Arizona product is most nearly 

 in competition, the prospects for the permanent establishment 

 of the Egyptian cotton industry in that state are better than ever. 



EMBARGO ON YARNS FROM SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



On February 23 the British Cotton Export Committee issued 

 a notification to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce an- 

 nouncing that it will not in the future recommend the issue of 

 licenses for the export of cotton yarns made from Sea Island 

 cotton. 



