34 BULLETIN 36, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



unopened bolls, but also the empty pods from which the cotton had 

 been picked by hand earlier in the season. This made it necessary 

 for the ginners to separate the cotton from about twice the amount 

 of bolls and trash which would be present if the bolls had been 

 gathered from the stalks by hand. 



At least one farmer whose previous experience had been in the 

 wheat-growing regions of the Northwest, after picking the greater 

 portion of his crop in the ordinary way and finding that what 

 remained after the beginning of cold weather was all near the top of 

 the stalk, went over the field with a wheat header, cutting off the tops 

 of all the plants at a given height and brought this material to 

 the gin. 



The cotton harvested by these methods was actually put through 

 the gin, baled, and sold, but the ginning process is so slow that the 

 ginners generally refuse to handle sled-picked cotton. 



In this connection it is only fair to say that there is probably no 

 State, with the possible exception of Texas, in which the equipment 

 and efficiency of the average ginning establishment is so excellent 

 as in Oklahoma. Our observation leads us to doubt whether 10 per 

 cent of the ginning establishments in the southeastern portion of 

 the belt could operate at all upon such cotton as a majority of 

 Oklahoma gins handle throughout a considerable part of the season. 

 We are inclined to believe that the average load of hand-picked cot- 

 ton which is brought to the average Oklahoma custom ginnery 

 results in a bale at least one grade higher than would be obtained 

 from the identical cotton if it were put through one-half of the 

 gins operating in the Carolinas. 



The larger cotton merchants of Oklahoma complain that there is 

 no proper recognition by the trade of the fact that Oklahoma cot- 

 ton contains less sand and gives less invisible loss in the mill than 

 the cotton of any other section. The almost universal use of mod- 

 ern cleaning devices in Oklahoma ginneries and a general absence 

 of such devices in many other portions of the cotton belt lead us to 

 believe that the superiority claimed for Oklahoma cotton actually 

 exists. 



With facilities for getting the highest grade which can be secured 

 from the cotton on the farmer's wagon, it seems both unfortunate 

 and unreasonable that no marketing system has been worked out 

 which gives him the full advantage in price to which this superior 

 quality is entitled. In other words, with a mechanical equipment for 

 ginning and baling which is superior to that found in any other por- 

 tion of the cotton belt, the resulting high-grade bales are sold in the 

 primary markets almost without regard to actual grade. 



It is our purpose to continue this survey during the season of 1913 

 on a somewhat different plan with a view to obtaining reliable statis- 



