July i, 1920] 



NATURE 



549 



variety, the progressive farmer at the end of the season 

 may tind hnnself making a forced contribution to an 

 unjust system. Naturally, he loses interest in raising 

 cotton of better quality, and goes back to ordinary 

 "gin-run" seed or to the shortest and most inferior 

 variety that promises a large yield. 



There is no agricultural reason why any part of the 

 American cotton belt should produce less than inch 

 staple, nor is it an advantage to any interest that the 

 production of inferior, short, and irregular staple 

 should continue, but the inertia of the system must 

 be overcome. Ii longer and more uniform staples are 

 to be grown, they must sell at least as readily and 

 as profitably as short staples. Since the farmer makes 

 no use of cotton at home, but raises it only to sell, 

 the quality of the fibre is of interest to him only as 

 the price is aflfected. Better prices for better cotton 

 are the only inducements that the farmer should be 

 expected to consider. Preaching from any other text 

 is sure to fall on deaf ears. 



The present scarcity of superior fibre could be met 

 most promptly and effectively by having more good 

 cotton grown instead of wasting the resources of pro- 

 duction by planting inferior cotton. The real , obstacle 

 is a defective commercial system, which undoubtedly 

 could be changed without any great difficulty if the 

 manufacturers had sufficient understanding of the 

 conditions and needs. The problem, no doubt, is 

 much the same in other countries as in the United 

 States : to render production rnore efficient by im- 

 proving the quality of the crop. 



After two derades of investigation of cotton- 

 breeding problems in the United States it is being 

 recognised that the production of the best and most 

 uniform fibre can be maintained only in communities 

 that limit their production to a single variety of 

 cotton, so that there shall be no mixing of different 

 kinds of seed at the public gins or crossing of 

 different kinds in the field. One-variety communities 

 have been maintained for several years in the Salt 

 River Valley of Arizona, where the practical advan- 

 tages of the plan have been demonstrated and the 

 commercial obstacles more clearly revealed. 



Community production of better cotton in other 

 regions might go forward rapidly if farmers were 

 assured of better markets for good cotton than for 

 short, mixed fibre. High prices may be expected to 

 affect the quantity of cotton to be grown, but the 

 quality will not be improved unless there is a distinct 

 advantage in raising better cotton. So long as manu- 

 facturers are willing to take the present commercial 

 system entirely for granted, and overlook its effect 

 upon production, no prompt or general improvement 

 is to be expected. 



Lack of discrimination in buying from the growers 

 is the weak point of the present system, not to be 

 made good by paying all growers more for their 

 cotton, but by paying more for good cotton and less 

 for poor cotton. Discrimination in prices must be 

 applied in the primary markets instead of the present 

 careless and incompetent buying of " hog-round " lots 

 at " flat " prices, which leads the farmer to produce 

 the worst fibre instead of the best, because varieties 

 with inferior lint often yield well or turn out high 

 percentages of lint at the gin, and do not need such 

 careful handling as the longer staples. 



Not only the condition or "grade" of the cotton, 

 but also the qualitv or " staple " need to be recognised 

 while the lOtton is still in the hands of the farmer. 

 Outside of cotton markets it is seldom understood 

 that the grades used in buying cotton from farmers 

 have no relation to the essential textile qualities of 

 length, strength, and uniformity of fibre. Sut only to 

 incidental differences that resiilt mostlv from careless 



NO. 2644, vor. 105] 



picking or from exposure to the weather. The system 

 buys grades from the farmer, but sells staples to the 

 manufacturer, getting discounts from the farmer and 

 premiums from the manufacturer. 



Discrimination could be applied honestly and to the 

 best advantage on the farm before the cotton is 

 picked. Uniformity of the fibre, which is an essential 

 factor of quality and value for textile purposes, can 

 be determined much more readily and definitely while 

 the cotton is still in the field than after it is brought 

 to the gin or passed into the bale. Field inspection 

 of the plants shows readily and easily whether the 

 stock represents a select, uniform variety or is mixed 

 with plants that yield only short, inferior fibre, as 

 most of the "off" plants do when a good variety is 

 allowed to deteriorate through admixture or neglect 

 of selection. 



If the cotton is mixed and irregular in the field 

 there is no chance that the farmer will have high- 

 quality fibre to sell, although the average buyer could 

 not determine the admixture from the bale samples. 

 The careless farmer usually sells his cotton at the 

 same price as his more careful neighbours, to sav 

 nothing of the dishonest farmer who deliberately 

 grows a mixed field with 20 per cent., or even 50 per 

 cent., of short cotton, but gets the long-staple price 

 for his crop. 



The quality of the fibre is affected also by cultural 

 conditions of soil, season, and methods of handling 

 the crop. Even on the same farm or in the same 

 field inequalities of soil or treatment may result in 

 cotton of very different textile qualities, which would 

 be marketed in separate bales if adequate discrimina- 

 tion in buying made such precautions worth while to 

 the grower. The careful discrimination of qualitv 

 that should be applied in the field can be made good 

 only in part by the elaborate mill-tests by which the 

 manufacturers try to protect themselves against too 

 much waste and breakage in working the cotton. 

 Such losses, as well as costs of cleaning and combing 

 processes, undoubtedly could be reduced to a great 

 extent through more careful buying and the more 

 careful growing and handling of the crop which dis- 

 criminating treatment of farming communities would 

 secure.* 



Field-inspection buying may be considered as a new 

 application of botanical knowledge, but the underlying 

 facts have been established, and there is no reason to 

 doubt that the talent applied in commercial sampling 

 from bales could be used more effectively for deter- 

 mination of the quality of fibre before the cotton is 

 harvested. Such a reform would give the commercial 

 system a positive, constructive relation to the industry 

 instead of the present negative, parasitic relation. 

 Farming communities would turn at once to the pro- 

 duction of fibre of better quality, to the general ad- 

 vantage of the cotton industry and the consuming 

 public. No doubt the relation of prices to production 

 has been overlooked because it is so simple and 

 obvious, but a new approach is open to manufac- 

 turers through the organisation of one-variety com- 

 munities. A strong department of commercial rela- 

 tions in the new Cotton Research Institute at Man- 

 chester would be a practical recognition of the principle 

 approved by Sir George Watt: "The cultivator's 

 interests are paramount." O. F. CoOK. 



Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, 

 May 24 



1 See United States Department of Aericu'tiire Bulletins, "The Relatiot> 

 of Cotton Buving to Cotton Orowinj," "'Cotton Improvement on a Com- 

 munity Hasis," " Cotton Selection oti the FarTi hy the Characters of the 

 Stalks, Leaves, and Bolls," " Rxtensidnof otton Production in California,'*' 

 " Production of American Egyptian Cotton," and " Maintaining the Supply 

 of Cotton." 



