494 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 60 



test methods, and exploring the possibilities of developing working 

 procedures to that end. Frustrating circumstances led both to con- 

 clude that the times did not favor this bold approach and that, although 

 international action would inevitably come in the future, it would have 

 to await more general understanding of the purpose and more substan- 

 tial support for the project. The test methods now used are those 

 recommended by the American Society for Testing Materials, some of 

 them having been first adopted in their original form during Webb's 

 tenure as Chairman of its Raw Cotton Section. Calibration is accom- 

 plished by distribution of "calibration cottons" tested and approved 

 for uniformity in the laboratory Webb established for standards 

 research. Use of the standard test cottons, under this International 

 Cotton Calibration Program, represents a milestone of progress, for 

 the fiber test results obtained in all laboratories using the check-test 

 cottons become more comparable, meaningful, and interchangeable 

 than otherwise would or could be possible. 



One further important outgrowth of the cotton fiber research pro- 

 gram is the publication of current technical information on the crop, 

 a service inaugurated by the Department of Agriculture in 1947 under 

 the direction of Dr. John W. Wright. From its more modest begin- 

 nings in that year, the Department of Agriculture has advanced to 

 the publication at biweekly intervals of detailed laboratoiy reports 

 of the length, fineness, strength, maturity, color, spimiing behavior, 

 and product quality of the principal standard varieties grown in the 

 major defined marketing areas of the cotton States. It follows at 

 the end of each crop season with a summary report containing all the 

 fiber, processing, yam, and fabric data accumulated throughout the 

 year. The current semimonthly information has proved invaluable 

 in the marketing of the crop, the annual summaries being even more 

 so to producers and their counsellors concerned with the achievement 

 of higher quality production in their particular local areas. This 

 service stands solidly on the foundation of fiber research initiated by 

 Webb and his associates, without which it would hardly yet be possible. 



Although in most ordinary market transactions cotton classing 

 continues to be the first means of cotton quality evaluation and selec- 

 tion, wherever precision is essential, reliance is placed on laboratory 

 analysis. In trade and manufacturing, the Micronaire test as a sup- 

 plement to classing is general. ]\Iany mills now regularly specify in 

 their raw cotton purchase contracts a minimmn or range of Micronaire 

 values. In the 1957-58 season, for example, an extensive study re- 

 cently made jointly by the Agricultural Experiment Stations of 13 

 cotton-growing States and the Agricultural Marketing Service of the 

 Federal Department of Agriculture showed that approximately 86 

 percent of xVmerican cotton purchased by cotton mill firms in this 

 country represented shipper contracts with fiber test specifications for 



