COTTON MARKET CONDITIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 5 



largo, modern custom gins, while the.,majority of the gins in the 

 Piedmont section are well equipped. 



There is less incentive in the Coastal Plain section to improve the 

 character of the cotton produced since neither the length of staple of 

 individual bales nor the average length of staple produced in a com- 

 munity seems to have any weight in determining the price paid for 

 certain bales or the relative standing of the town as a cotton market. 

 This is not true of the Piedmont section, as it appears that the 

 length of staple of each bale and the average length of staple pro^ 

 duced in a community are factors in determining both the prices 

 of individual bales and the relatively higher prices paid at certain 

 markets. 



PRODUCTION COMPARED WITH CONSUMPTION OF COTTON IN 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



A matter worthy of serious consideration by buyers and consumers 

 as well as producers of cotton in North Carolina is that, notwith- 

 standing the fact that the mills of the State consume more cotton 

 than is produced in it, production does not meet the peculiar needs 

 of consumption from a standpoint of length of staple. (See Table 

 II. ) A survey of the mills of the State made by the Division of Mar- 

 kets of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station shows 

 that more than three-fifths of the cotton consumed in North Carolina 

 is produced outside of the State. 



Table II.- 



-Comparison of lengths of staple of cotton produced and consumed in 

 North Carolina during the 1914-15 season. 





Length of staple in inches. 





Less 

 than |. 



7 



1 s 



1 



Irror 

 longer. 





Bales. 

 28,000 

 27,000 



Bales. 



400,000 



300,000 



Bales. 



160,000 



180,000 



Bales. 



152,000 



234,000 



Bales. 

 56,000 











1,000 



100,000 









Underproduction 





8S 000 











' 





It will be observed from a study of Table II that while there is 

 more cotton of seven-eighths of an inch and less in length of staple 

 raised than is consumed or manufactured in the State, the reverse 

 is true of cotton having a length of staple of 1 inch or more. This 

 condition can be remedied if producers will give reasonable con- 

 sideration to the length of staple when selecting varieties for plant- 

 ing. 1 Producers will be encouraged to grow cotton of a better staple 



1 Cook, O. F. The Relation of Cotton Buying to Cotton Growing. 

 Agriculture, Bulletin No. 60. 



U. S. Department of 



