Apml 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



379 



ditions exist in the Yuma Reclamation Project on the lower 

 Colorado River, which includes a total of 100,000 acres, or 

 20,000 available for cotton. For the assistance of farmers a 

 well-equipped experiment farm is maintained in each irrigated 

 district by the Department of Agriculture. 



In Egypt, cotton is grown entirely on irrigated land and in a 

 climate practically rainless throughout the period of develop- 

 ment of the cotton plant. This absence of rain, especially during 

 the picking season, favors the production of clean cotton. Con- 

 ditions in Salt River V'alley, therefore, are substantially the 

 same, except for the advantages of freedom from the boll weevil, 

 pink boll worm and most other insect pests, and but slight 

 occurrence of Hindi, or '"weed" cotton contamination which 

 renders difficult the maintenance of pure seed. Probably 

 the higher valuation of land and cost of irrigation water in 

 Egypt, together with less efficient hand methods of tillage, 

 nearly if not quite offsets the higher cost of labor in America, 

 which is felt chiefly in picking. .\s the crop-producing capa- 

 bilities of the land in the two regions are much the same, and 

 in staple and quality of fiber the commercial value of the Ari- 

 zona crop compares favorably with the best of the Egyptian 

 varieties, such as Jannovitch and Sakellarides, the difference to 

 the American m.anufacturer lies chiefly in the freights, that by 

 rail to New luigland from Arizona being normally about three 

 times as much as frum Egypt to America by water. There are 

 several methods of 

 surmounting this 

 handicap, but a con- 

 sideration of them is 

 beyond the scope of 

 the present article. 

 Suffice it to say that 

 comparatively little 

 difficulty has been ex- 

 perienced thus far in 

 disposing of the crop 

 at satisfactory prices, 

 due no doubt to the 

 realization on the part 

 of progressive manu- 

 facturers that new 

 American sources of 

 long-staple cotton 

 should be developed 

 and encouraged while 

 in an experimental 

 stage. 



YUMA COTTON. 



Two varieties of uniformly high quality long-staple cotton 

 known as Yuma and Pima are available for Arizona planting. 

 Both were bred up by the Bureau of Plant Industry of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture by selection from the Mit Atifi variety 

 of Egypt, and are of a sort not available anywhere in Egypt. 

 As segregated in 1908, the Yuma variety is distinct in the char- 

 acter of the plant and of the fiber. The lint ranges from 1 7/16 

 to 1 9/16 inches in length, according to soil and cultural condi- 

 tions, and has the pale, pinkish buff color of Jannovitch cotton 

 rather than the deeper buff color of the original Mit Afifi. The 

 lint averages about 28 per cent. Yield and spinning tests during 

 the past eight years have demonstrated that a stable variety, 

 uniform in character and of good spinning quality, has been 

 developed. 



PIMA COTTON. 



In I'UO another distinct type was segregated from llic Yuma 

 and given the name of Pima. This superlatively excellent new 

 strain surpasses the parent variety in productiveness, size of the 

 bolls, length and quality of the fiber, greater freedom from limbs, 

 and general uniformity. The Pima fiber staples from 1% to 1-J4 



.^N Arizona Irrig.\tion Can.\i. 



inches and is finer and lighter colored than Yuma. The upward 

 vegetative branches are fewer and shorter, the fruiting branches, 

 especially the lower ones, longer and better furnished with bolls. 

 Because of these facts more light reaches the lower part of the 

 plant, the crop matures earlier, the early bottom crop is heavier, 

 and picking is easier. In lint percentage it differs but slightly 

 from Yuma, the tendency being in favor of the latter. Spinning 

 tests encouraged the substitution of this variety for Yuma, and 

 during the season of 1916 it was grown for the first time com- 

 mercially in the Salt River Valley. Seed enough to plant about 

 ,5,000 acres of this variety was produced, and by the spring of 

 1918 there will be seed enough to plant 100,000 acres or more. 



SEED .SUPPLY. 



A Yuma seed supply of uniform quality is maintained by the 

 Salt River Valley Egyptian Cotton Growers' Association under 

 the supervision of Department of Agriculture experts. This 

 cotton is grown in isolated places to prevent crossing, and under 

 as nearly ideal conditions as possible. Early in July, soon after 

 blossoming begins, every plant is examined and those of inferior 

 quality are rogued to prevent contamination of others with their 

 pollen. Thus the seed for general planting this year was de- 

 rived from the fields rogued in 1915. and can probably be sold 

 at only a slight advance above current oil mill prices. It is 



sufficient for 100.000 acres or more. 



COTTON ].\ ROTATION 



WITH ALFALFA. 

 To be profitable, 

 Egyptian cotton farm- 

 ing must be not a 

 single crop culture, 

 but part of a system 

 of crop rotation in 

 which alfalfa, for in- 

 stance, is alternated 

 occasionally with cot- 

 ton. In past years, 

 profit in alfafa has de- 

 pended upon growing 

 livestock to consume 

 it and involved heavy 

 I iverhead expenses 

 which cotton spinning 

 and weaving compa- 

 nies have hesitated to 

 assume. But the live- 

 stock industry of Salt 

 River Valley is assuming such proportions as to provide a ready 

 market near at hand. Indeed, alfalfa occupies over half the ir- 

 rigated land and is the basis of agricultural operations in that 

 locality. 



Cotton and alfalfa culture greatly benefit each other. Alfalfa 

 lirings a good cash return, puts humus into the soil and pro- 

 vides an ideal enrichment for subsequent cotton growing, while 

 cotton renovates the soil of weeds. As a result of conliiuied 

 planting, alfalfa fields become badly infested with Bermuda and 

 Johnson grass. One or two well-tilled crops of cotton, however, 

 will leave the land in excellent condition again for alfalfa or 

 for any crop, as the cultivation between the plants when young 

 and the complete shading of the ground later in the summer 

 kills weeds of every sort. Little, if any, more than half as 

 much irrigation water per season is required for cotton as al- 

 falfa, so that expansion of cotton culture in Salt Kiver Valley 

 may uhiniatcly lead to extension of the irrigated area. 

 COST OF PROnrCTION. 

 Estimates of the cost of production liave been prepared for 

 the Department of .\griculturc liy W. S. Dorman, who has had 

 over four years' growing experience in Salt River Valley, and 



