24 BULLETIN nil, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



matching the inferior fiber of mixed communities, so that the com- 

 mercial problems are simplified. Even in advance of formal organi- 

 zation of communities a distinct advantage may be shown as the one- 

 variety condition is approached. The general popularity of the big- 

 boll type of cotton in Texas has kept the crop more uniform and given 

 that State an appreciable market advantage in comparison with other 

 parts of the Cotton Belt. Premiums of $10 to $20 a bale are being 

 paid in Texas and Oklahoma communities because most of the farm- 

 ers grow the Lone Star or Acala variety and the buyers compete for 

 the superior fiber. Active campaigns for community standardization 

 and marketing are in progress in Texas, Oklahoma, and North Car- 

 olina. 



PROGRESS IN ORGANIZED COMMUNITIES. 



One-variety communities are progressive in many ways that are 

 beyond the possibilities of unorganized communities. With only 

 one variety being grown, interest and emulation develop among the 

 farmers, because they know that their results will come into direct 

 comparison with those of their neighbors and will depend very largely 

 on their ability to handle their crop in a skillful manner. Effects 

 of different conditions of soils, seasons, and cultural methods are 

 more clearly recognized in one-variety communities instead of being 

 confused with differences in the characters of the varieties, and the 

 farmers gain a more thorough, practical familiarity with the char- 

 acteristics and behavior of the single type to which their attention is 

 devoted. 



No other cotton-growing district has made such rapid progress 

 in recent years as the Salt River Valley of Arizona, where only the 

 Pima variety is grown. The interest in the Pima cotton has been 

 more acute and more constructive than would be possible if attention 

 were divided upon two or more sorts. Cotton problems are discussed 

 with interest and profit at farmers' meetings, because everybody is 

 having experience with the same variety. Such progress is not pos- 

 sible in communities where different kinds of cotton are grown and 

 farmers are accustomed to ascribe their success or failure to the seed 

 that was planted. 



With adequate understanding of the behavior of one variety, 

 methods are adjusted more closely to differences of soils, seasons, 

 and times of planting, and labor is applied to the best advantage 

 in farm operations. In weevil-infested regions it is especially im- 

 portant that all the farmers of a community grow the same variety, 

 plant as nearly as possible at the same time, handle the crop to- 

 gether, and clear the fields early in the fall. One-variety communi- 

 ties develop skill, while mixed communities suffer from backward 



