50 



Cotton is sometimes planted flat and where the soil is soft the results are 

 good. The land is flooded, then disked, harrowed and seeded as soon after 

 irrigation as possible. The objection to this plan is that the seed is often 

 planted where there is insufficient moisture or where the soil is not well com- 

 pacted about the seed. This system is good for alkali land where water table 

 does not exist, as the flooding tends to wash the salts to the sub-stratum and 

 the mulch prevents excessive evaporation and consequent surface accumulation 

 of salts. 



Volunteering cotton from year to year has proved to be a profitable practice 

 and is being followed quite extensively. If the rows are ridged up well in the 

 last cultivation, the earth about the stem prevents the freezing of the buds and 

 a good stand is secured without reseeding, while if not ridged many of the 

 stalks are killed. 



The main aim in the irrigation of cotton is to maintain as uniform a 

 moisture condition as possible. Too much or too little moisture hurts the plants 

 and any sudden change from a dry to a wet soil invariably causes a great loss 

 of squares. The outer growing tips are good indicators of the needs of the 

 plants. Soils vary a good deal in their water-holding capacity and each farmer 

 should know his soil type and irrigate accordingly. 



Cultivation is done with an ordinary two horse corn and cotton cultivator 

 and is continued as long as possible. Very little hand work is done, except 

 at thinning time, when the plants are hoed out to a distance of about eighteen 

 inches. Thinning is done when the plants are from five to ten inches high. 



The labor problem is the main obstacle to cotton raising in California. It 

 is hard to procure experienced pickers. Most of the picking is done by whites 

 and negroes, although Mexicans and Hindus do good work. Picking costs from 

 $0.75 to $1.25 per hundred pounds seed cotton. 



Most of the cotton goes to the eastern mills, practically all of the Durango 

 going to the American Thread Company of New York. Cotton is sold at about 

 forty points or two dollars per bale off from the New York quotations. Most 

 of the cotton seed is sold to the cotton seed oil mills at $15 per ton. The oil 

 produced is shipped out and the cotton seed meal and hulls are used locally for 

 feed. About one-third of the cotton is marketed through the Cotton Growers' 

 Exchange, the rest going to individual buyers. 



Land suitable for cotton can be bought for from $100 to $175 per acre 

 fully water stocked, or can be rented for from $10 to $15 per acre. There 

 are opportunities for getting cheap land, but when levelled and water stocked 

 the cost will approximate $100. 



Cotton is often grown on shares. The land owner usually furnishes all 

 horses and tools and pays the taxes and all water charges, the last named usually 

 amounting to about $3 per acre. The renter furnishes all labor and receives 

 from one-half to three-fifths of the crop at the gin, each paying half the ginning 

 expenses, which amount to $4.50 per bale. The seed is divided equally. If the 

 renter furnishes horses and tools he gets three-fourths of the crop. 



