DUEAKGO COTTON IN THE IMPERIAL VALLEY. 17 



he is receiving full value for his money. To manage such sales to 

 the satisfaction of all concerned requires a certain amount of skill 

 and ability. 



The demand for cotton is based on the activity of the yarn or goods 

 market, which in turn hinges upon the style of goods being worn or 

 utilized, and upon the general financial conditions. When the supply 

 of cotton is unusually large, low prices with dull and inactive markets 

 for staples must result. In times of prosperity naturally more money 

 is spent on dress goods and other articles of fine quality than in 

 seasons of financial depression, and there is a good demand for ma- 

 terial at high prices. This demand means an active staple-cotton 

 market and high prices, but, of course, the law of supply and demand 

 applies to cotton as well as to any other commodity. 



As previously stated, the high grades of cotton are those in greatest 

 demand ; in fact, a mill spinning fine yarns for the weaving of fancy 

 and high-grade goods will not buy low-grade staple cotton. Staple 

 cotton of the' Durango variety ranges in length from ly 1 ^ to l T 5 g 

 inches, and for each increase of one-sixteenth of an inch in length 

 of staple in the grade of Strict Middling and Good Middling, and 

 better, there is an increase in price of about 1 cent a pound. These 

 differences in value between the various grades are not stable, but 

 vary with the demand for the different lengths of staple, and also 

 change with the grade and quality or character of the cotton. For 

 instance, Good Middling, 1^ inch, grown on poor land which has 

 been insufficiently irrigated, will make irregular, soft, and fluffy 

 fiber which will not equal in value cotton of the same grade and 

 length of staple grown under proper conditions. As poor or faulty 

 ginning also will reduce the value of the staple materially, in the 

 marketing of long-staple cotton it is necessary to take into considera- 

 tion every good quality and all defects, whether inherent or produced 

 mechanically. 



TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES AND RATES. 



Although this bulletin discusses handling and marketing primarily 

 with reference to the Durango cotton produced in the Imperial Val- 

 ley, what is said concerning transportation rates and facilities ap- 

 plies to all classes of cotton grown there. So far as is known, prior 

 to the season of 1916-17, little of the Imperial Valley cotton was ex- 

 ported to the Orient from Pacific coast ports. A small portion of it 

 is consumed by the mills of the Southeast ; some of it moves through 

 the ports of Galveston and New Orleans to Europe; and some of it 

 moves to those ports and thence by water to New York for consump- 

 tion at interior mills. 



