UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 476 



Jjf^ Contribution from Office of Markets and Rural Organization, ^ 

 Charles J. Brand, Chief, and North Carolina Agricul- jfi 



tural Experiment Station and Extension Service, 



B. W. Kiigore, Director. ♦tfU^r^UTU 



Washington. D. C. 



March 29, 1917 



A STUDY OF COTTON MARKET CONDITIONS 



IN NORTH CAROLINA WITH A VIEW TO 



THEIR IMPROVEMENT. 



By O. J. McConnell, Assistant in Cotton Marketing, Office of Markets and 

 Rural Organisation, and W. R. Camp, Chief North Carolina Division of 



Markets. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Method of procedure 2 



Character of the cotton produced in North 

 Carolina 2 



Production compared with consumption of 

 cotton in North Carolina 5 



Relative merits of certain primary markets in 

 North Carolina C . 



Comparison of cash With credit sales 9 



Prices received for classed cotton compared 



with prices received for unclassed cotton. . . 9 



Comparison of small and large lot sales 16 



Other advantages derived from a knowledge 



of class 17 



Conclusions : 17 



INTRODUCTION. 



The investigations described in this bulletin were made for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the value to the cotton producer of knowing 

 the class of his cotton before sale and for the purpose of determining 

 whether this information could be furnished to producers by dis- 

 interested parties with practical results. It is realized that in the 

 marketing of cotton by producers a knowledge of class before sale 

 is only one of a number of related problems, some of which were 

 studied and are discussed in this paper. 



A detailed investigation of local conditions affecting the marketing 

 of cotton was made in North Carolina during two seasons. This in- 

 vestigation was confined to the eastern part of the State during the 

 season of 1914r-15, and embraced all cotton-producing sections during 

 the season of 1915-16. 



62489°— Bull. 476—17 1 



