366 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



of these people who can be brought into direct contact with the soil, 

 the better. America has in the past looked to the farm for the 

 rejuvenation of her social vitality. The land will probably much 

 better serve social needs under the new system than under the old, 

 for the healing influences of the soil will be applied directly to those 

 of our people who stand most in need of healing. It is not the few 

 who can afford to own farms who most need the benefits of country 

 life, but rather the many who can neither buy nor rent. Under the 

 new order they and their children will receive a blessing which might 

 never come to them in the old, and the whole of society will be bene- 

 fited thereby. 



118. THE NEED OF A LARGER UNIT OF ORGANIZATION 1 

 BY O. F. COOK 



The American cotton industry presents unusual opportunities for 

 improvement through community organization. Many important 

 advantages are not to be realized by individual farmers working alone, 

 but require the united action of entire cotton-growing communities. 

 Only in this way can improved varieties and other results of scientific 

 investigation be effectively utilized. The present unorganized condi- 

 tion of such communities limits the power of the individual farmer 

 to improve his crop. Organizations of southern corn growers are 

 learning some of the advantages of co-operation in the improvement of 

 a crop, but other and still greater advantages are to be gained with 

 cotton by organized effort on a community basis. 



A right choice of methods is as necessary in applying the results 

 of scientific study as in conducting investigations. Methods of 

 improvement well suited to other crops are entirely inadequate with 

 cotton. The crossing of varieties in the field and the mixing of seed 

 in gins render it unusually difficult to preserve the uniformity of 

 superior varieties. Uniformity is more important with cotton than 

 with corn, because the fiber is used for manufacturing purposes. 

 Selection is more difficult with cotton but has a double value, for 

 uniformity not only increases the yield but adds to the commercial 

 value of cotton. 



Two things are necessary for any adequate application of the 

 results of scientific investigation to the cotton industry: (i) the 

 superior varieties that are bred must go into general use, and (2) their 



1 Adapted from Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1911, pp. 397-407. 



