2 BULLETIN 121, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the spinners with so-called long-staple Carolina uplands had been 

 unsatisfactory. 



Subsequent investigation seems to indicate that this was because, 

 most of the so-called staple cottons produced in this territory had 

 been grown from seed brought over from the Mississippi Delta, 

 which was not acclimated. No adequate care had been taken to 

 keep such importations pure by preventing cross-pollenization in the 

 field or mixing of seed at the gin. Furthermore, few ginners in the 

 Carolinas, outside the Sea Island belt, were familiar with staple 

 cotton, and much of that which they handled was seriously injured 

 in the ginning process. 



There were, however, m the Carolinas a few careful breeders who 

 had taken up systematic selection and breeding work with the best 

 strains obtainable of the Columbia variety, which had been devel- 

 oped and introduced by the Department of Agriculture some years 

 before. At the same time this department was developing the 

 Durango cotton in the West. This variety is especially adapted to 

 the irrigated regions of the extreme Southwest and has given excel- 

 lent results on river bottoms in Texas and in other favorable loca- 

 tions having sufficient moisture. It has recently been grown with 

 marked success as far north as Norfolk, Va. 



With the sudden decrease in the staple production of the Delta, 

 Carolina breeders found sale for their best qualities at very satis- 

 factory prices, which stimulated greatly the planting of staple 

 varieties in areas previously given over almost entirely to short 

 cotton. A study of the quality of the staples produced for some 

 years past in certain parts of the Carolinas and of the prices re- 

 ceived seems to indicate that the few spinners who understood the 

 true character and value of these cottons added largely" to their 

 profits by quietly absorbing the entire output at prices very much 

 below those prevailing for corresponding qualities grown in the 

 Delta. A very large number of spinners, however, still hold to the 

 opinion that Upland staple cottons grown in the Carolinas and 

 Georgia are wholly inferior to those grown in the Delta. They be- 

 lieve the Eastern staples to be more " wastj^," that is to say, that they 

 contain a larger proportion of short fibers which will be taken out 

 as waste in the manufacture of combed yarns. The department's 

 breeders have satisfied themselves, by examination in the field, that 

 the best of the new Upland varieties are fully equal in uniformity 

 of staple to the average " Deltas " or " Peelers " of the same length. 



The results of the experiments here recorded show the character 

 of the best Upland staples grown in the East to be sufficiently high 

 to warrant spinners in being less conservative in buying them. 



It must be remembered that these are the first tests in a new field 

 of investigation. Too sweeping and far-reaching conclusions should 



