ONE-vAEiETY coTToisr commi:nittes. 27 



system that looks for quality only in samples taken from the bales. 

 By simple inspection of the fields it is easy for those who are familiar 

 with varieties to see whether the plants are all of one kind, or of two 

 or more different kinds, or a miscellaneous mixture of sorts as in the 

 ordinary " gin-run " stocks. If the plants are different and produce 

 different kinds of fiber, the staple will not be uniform in the bale, 

 though it is much more difficult to detect the mixture of different 

 kinds of fiber in the bale than to recognize the different kinds of 

 plants in the field. It is known in long-staple markets that buyers 

 commonly overlook mixtures of 10 or 15 per cent of short staple. 

 Some unscrupulous farmers make a practice of mixing short-staple 

 seed with long-staple Upland varieties and find that even 50 per cent 

 of short cotton can sometimes be sold at the price of long staple, so 

 inadequate is the present system of buying, on samples from the 

 bales. 



The true community of interest of the growers is most obvious 

 from the standpoint of production, and practical local organizations 

 would form the most effective connection between the individual 

 farmer and any general organizations that were regularly main- 

 tained. 



That farmers fail so often to secure fair prices for their cotton 

 under the present commercial system can be charged, in part at least, 

 to the chaotic conditions which tend to keep the farmers from know- 

 ing the true quality or value of their cotton, whether bad or good. 

 The entire responsibility of selecting and standardizing the farm 

 product is thrown upon the buyer or upon the commercial system, 

 instead of the standardizing being done on the farm, which becomes 

 possible in one-variety communities. 



One-variety communities not only avoid the mixing of seed but 

 are in position to take another important step in standardizing the 

 quality of their cotton by recognizing the effects of different condi- 

 tions of growth. Pure seed is essential for a uniform product, 

 but favorable conditions of growth are also necessary in order to 

 attain a regular, normal development of the crop. If the soil or the 

 other conditions are adverse, so that the plants fail to grow or are 

 forced into rank growth and then checked by drought or other un- 

 favorable conditions, fiber of very irregular quality is produced. To 

 maintain a continuous normal development of the plants without 

 forcing or checking is the problem of skillful cotton farming. 



Farmers of the irrigated districts who leave their cotton too long 

 without water during the heat of the summer not only may cut their 

 yields to half a crop but at the same time impair the quality of the 

 fiber to an equal or greater extent. Bolls do not reach normal de- 

 velopment during the water-stress period. The seeds do not grow 



