2 BULLETIN 946, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



cotton grown near Clarksville, Tex. Its chief cultural characteris- 

 tics as compared with the Sea Island cotton are its earlier maturing 

 bolls increased production of lint and seed, and its larger bolls and 

 consequent greater ease of picking. 



The Meade cotton is a long-staple upland variety, producing 

 under favorable conditions a fiber If inches long, of fine texture 

 like the Sea Island. Because its seeds are nearly smooth it can be 

 handled to advantage on common roller gins. There is little tend- 

 ency to " butterfly " ; that is, for the fibers to grow shorter at the 

 base of the seed, which was one of the undesirable traits of the 

 older long-staple upland varieties, such as Floradora, Sunflower, and 

 Allen. So closely does the Meade fiber resemble Sea Island that 

 the two can not be distinguished except by experts. It is said that 

 Meade has been sold on the regular Sea Island market at Savannah 

 at a premium over the mainland Sea Island. 



PURPOSE OF THE SPINNING TESTS. 1 



The United States Department of Agriculture, through the cotton- 

 testing specialists of the Bureau of Markets, has conducted spinning 

 tests on representative bales of Meade and Sea Island cotton grown 

 during the seasons of 1916-17, 1918-19, and 1919-20 in order to de- 

 termine the practical spinning value of the Meade cotton in com- 

 parison with that of Sea Island. 



GRADE AND STAPLE OF COTTON. 



The grade of the cotton for the tests of 1916-17 and of 1918-19 

 was practically equal. That of the season of 1919-20 was repre- 

 sented by a mixture of Meade cotton grading No. 2^, grown on sandy 

 soil ; by another mixture of Meade cotton grading No. 3, grown on 

 clay soil; and by a mixture of Sea Island cotton grading No. 1-J. 

 The length of staple of the cotton tested was If inches for all three 

 seasons, excepting the Meade produced on clay soil, which was 1 T V 

 inches in length of staple. The United States Official Cotton Stand- 

 ards for Sea Island cotton were used as a basis of comparison for 

 both growths on which the 1919-20 tests were made, but the earlier 

 tests were made before the official standards for Sea Island had been 

 established; hence, it can only be stated that the grade of cottons 

 used the first two years was equal as between Meade and Sea Island 

 and approximately equal to the grades used in the last test. 



1 The spinning tests of the Meade and Sea Island cottons herein described were con- 

 ducted independently duiing three different years. The test on the crop of 1916-17 was 

 made in 1017 at the North Carolina State. College of Agriculture and Engineering, West 

 Raleigh, X. C, by William S. Dean, formerly assistant in cotton testing ; the test on 

 the crop of 1918-19 was made in 1919 at the New Bedford Textile School, New Bedford, 

 Mass., by C. E. Killingsworth, formerly assistant in cotton testing; and the tests of the 

 crop of 1919-20 were made in 1920 at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture 

 and Engineering, West Raleigh, N. C, by William G. Blair, assistant in cotton testing. 



