176 
covery or breeding of the varieties, and 
equally worthy of careful, scientific 
study. 
The problems of cooperation are the 
field of research that needs most to be 
cultivated at the present time, for the 
general welfare of the cotton industry. 
The technical problems, the breeding 
of superior varieties, and the spinning 
and weaving of cotton by machinery, 
are much farther advanced than the 
general commercial problems of hand- 
ling, transporting and _ distributing, 
which react directly upon production. 
On account of the present scarcity and 
acute demand for good fiber, the manu- 
facturing and commercial interests are 
recognizing the need of research, but 
without understanding that improved 
systems of buying and handling the 
crop are as necessary as improved 
varieties. Not only facts regarding 
varieties and textile qualities of different 
kinds of fiber, need to be investigated, 
but the whole field of activities that 
lies between the breeding of varieties 
and the manufacturing processes. 
ENORMOUS WASTE OF PRESENT SYSTEM 
The damage to the industry that 
results every year from the lack of 
good seed and the resulting failure to 
utilize fully the resources of production 
must be estimated in the hundreds of 
millions of dollars. Replacement of 
our present inferior, mixed stocks by 
superior, uniform varieties would give 
a direct gain of at least ten per cent in 
quality, and as much more in yield, 
while another ten per cent might be 
expected from the cultural improve- 
ments that become possible in one- 
variety communities. Advantages from 
community handling and marketing of 
a standardized product would not be 
less important than the other items, 
and pure seed can be sold above the 
oil-mill prices. In returns to the farmer, 
our present unorganized production 
may have only a fifty per cent efficiency 
as compared with what may be found 
possible in well organized one-variety 
communities. The general waste of 
labor and resources of production in 
the eastern cotton belt contrasts pain- 
fully with the one-variety communities 
The Journal of Heredity 
of the Salt River Valley of Arizona 
where the Pima variety of Egyptian 
cotton is grown exclusively, and the 
advantages of community organization 
are beginning to be realized. 
ONE-VARIETY COMMUNITIES MORE PRO- 
GRESSIVE 
Cultural problems are simplified in 
one-variety communities. Effects of 
different conditions of soils, seasons, 
and cultural methods are learned, in- 
stead of being confused with differences 
in the characters of the varieties. The 
most rapid progress in cotton culture is 
now being made in the Salt River 
Valley of Arizona, where only the 
Pima variety is grown. Cotton pro- 
blems are discussed with interest and 
profit at farmers’ meetings because 
everybody has had experience with the 
same variety of cotton. Such progress 
is not possible in communities where 
different kinds of cotton are planted 
and farmers ascribe their success or 
failure to the seed. 
With adequate understanding of the 
behavior of one variety, methods are 
adjusted more closely to differences of 
soil, season and time of planting, and 
labor is applied to the best advantage 
in farm operations, preparing the land, 
planting the seed, thinning and spacing 
of the plants in the rows, cultivating, 
irrigating, harvesting and handling the 
crop. In weevil-infested regions it is 
especially important that all the farmers 
of a community grow the same variety, 
plant as nearly as possible at the same 
time, handle the crop together, and 
clear the fields early in the fall. One- 
variety communities develop skill, while 
mixed’ communities suffer from back- 
ward cultural methods as well as from 
deterioration of varieties. 
MARKETING A STANDARDIZED PRODUCT 
The final advantage of one-varicty 
communities is in marketing the crop. 
In an unorganized community the 
farmer who raises better cotton than 
his neighbors usually is forced to sell 
it at the same price to the local buyer. 
The manufacturer pays more for the 
high-quality fiber, but the difference is 
absorbed by the buying trade, instead 
