ORGANIZATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE 367 



uniformity must be maintained by continued selection. Experience 

 has shown that neither of these objects is likely to be attained by the 

 miscellaneous distribution of small quantities of seed. Such distri- 

 bution serves to introduce a variety to the farmer's attention, but 

 this is only the first step toward effective utilization. Unless new 

 varieties are adopted by whole communities instead of by scattered 

 individual farmers, there is no prospect that their full value will be 

 realized or that their uniformity will be maintained. These objects 

 would be much easier to secure if each neighborhood or group of 

 farmers who grow their cotton in adjacent fields and carry it to the 

 same gins could act together as communities. The community should 

 agree, if possible, upon the planting of one kind of cotton and take 

 measures for maintaining the purity and uniformity of the stock by 

 continued selection under the local conditions. This would mean 

 larger crops, better fiber, and higher prices, not only because of the 

 improved quality but because each community would be able to pro- 

 duce a commercial quantity, a hundred bales or upward, of the same 

 uniform type of cotton. 



If the skill and discrimination now used in buying and selling cot- 

 ton could be applied to raising it, the product would be greatly 

 improved. Community organization would aid in bringing this about 

 by enabling the farmer to acquire special knowledge like that used 

 by the buyer in separating and grading the different kinds of 

 cotton. 



Manufacturers have no use for miscellaneous small lots of cotton, 

 like those produced in unorganized communities where each farmer 

 is likely to plant a different variety and follow a different method of 

 culture. The commercial selection and assembling of commercial 

 quantities of the different grades and qualities of cotton, as carried 

 out by the buyers, is a necessary part of the present system, and is to 

 be avoided only in communities that devote themselves to the pro- 

 duction of a uniform type of cotton. Many dealers refuse to con- 

 sider the essential qualities of length and strength of fiber in buying 

 the cotton from the farmer. A farmer who takes the trouble to raise 

 a crop of superior fiber and is then refused a premium can hardly be 

 expected to repeat the effort. He is more likely to apply to the 

 Department of Agriculture for a variety that will produce the most 

 pounds of lint without regard to quality. At the same time come 

 requests from manufacturers that the planting of long-staple cotton 

 be more actively fostered. These conflicting demands show that the 



