DISADVAlsTTAGES OF SELLING COTTON Ilsr THE SEED. 7 



) 



case, it may be considered that the ginner paid to the farmer for the 

 cotton an equivalent of 11.28 cents per pound for the bale. Such 

 prices are hereafter referred to as the ''equivalent lint prices." 



ELEMENTS THAT DETERMINE THE PRICE OF SEED COTTON. 



The wide variations in the percentages of seed, lint, and trash as 

 brought out by Table III and the inability of the ginner or producer 

 to determine accurately these proportions or the quality of the lint 

 or seed before the cotton is ginned, make it impossible for the ginner 

 to figure a just price to be paid for each load, and the best he can 

 do under the circumstances is to consider the current lint and seed 

 prices and to take the average lint, seed, and trash contents of his 

 community as a basis for reaching the price to be paid for the un- 

 ginned cotton. This condition has resulted in dealing on a system 

 of averages, and the ginner often determines on a certain price 

 which he offers for all seed cotton with little regard for quality. 

 However, if a superficial examination of the load shows it to be 

 much worse than the average in trash or moisture content, a lower 

 price is offered. In fixing this price the buyer is naturally careful 

 to guard against any losses that may be incurred on account of the 

 uncertainties involved and to figure safely his own profit. An 

 examination of the records shows many cases where, in the same 

 market, on the same day, the same price per hundred pounds was 

 paid for all unginned cotton, with apparently an utter disregard for 

 quality, the ginner apparently expecting to overcome any losses on 

 the poorer loads by gains on the better ones. In nearly all collec- 

 tions of samples made during this survey the range in price paid for 

 seed cotton on any one day was comparatively small, and many 

 instances are shown where the load containing the best lint sold for 

 a lower comparative price than did the load which yielded the 

 poorest lint. 



Tables IV and V are presented to bring out inconsistencies with 

 respect to quality between equivalent lint prices resulting from a 

 fixed seed-cotton price in a given market. Detailed statements are 

 given. of two collections of samples of seed cotton, each load of which 

 was grown and sold by a different producer. The cotton in the first 

 lot, represented by Table IV, was sold at $4.50 per 100 pounds, in 

 Tahlequah, on October 2, and each load of the second lot, repre- 

 sented by Table V, at $4 per 100 pounds, in Anadarko, on November 

 10, 1913. 



In Table IV, the quality ranges from Strict Low MiddHng light 

 tinged to Good Middling; the lint outturn varies 6.8 per cent; the 

 seed outturn, 6.4 per cent; the trash outturn, 2.1 per cent; and the 

 equivalent lint price, 2.14 cents per pound; yet each of these 10 

 loads brought the producers S4.50 per 100 pounds. In Table V, the 

 quality ranges from below Good Ordinary to Strict Low Middling; 



