ONE-VAKIETY COTTON COMMUNITIES. 31 



ing and conducting the activities of one-variety communities m grow- 

 ing, handling, and marketing the crop and in maintaining the purity 

 and uniformity of the basic stocks are problems of as much practical 

 importance as the original discovery or breeding of the varieties and 

 equally worthy of careful, scientific study, as well as of being popular- 

 ized and made available for general use. 



If the utilization of varieties depended upon finding a new chem- 

 ical to treat the seed or to fertilize the soil or upon devising a new 

 machine for planting, cultivating, or harvesting the crop, the prob- 

 lem would appear normal, and a solution could be sought along the 

 usual technical lines, but the social factors of conmiunity organiza- 

 tion need to be considered as well as physical conditions or mechan- 

 ical operations. The community conditions are equally fundamental, 

 since superior varieties of cotton can be utilized only as they are kept 

 uniform and apart from other varieties. Except through community 

 action there seems to be no prospect of approach to a general appli- 

 cation of the science of heredity or the art of plant breeding in the 

 improvement of the cotton industry. 



As experience has shown, very intelligent people may fail to under- 

 stand the essential nature of such an undertaking as one-variety 

 organization of cotton communities. Some are inclined to oppose 

 any form of cooperative effort as " wasting of time and interfering 

 with business." Others may admit the desirability of community or- 

 ganization, but still may not appreciate the fundamental difference 

 in relation to production, that organized conununities have good seed 

 to plant while unorganized communities do not. Though the farm 

 operations in one- variety communities are not united but remain as 

 strictly individual as before, the quality and efficiency of farming 

 are improved because knowledge and interest are focused and spe- 

 cialized, with more of a public or social interest to stimulate ex- 

 pression and communication of ideas among the members of such 

 communities. 



Since it is an advantage to each farmer that his neighbors also 

 shall plant good seed and raise good crops, there is a basis for a 

 regular, continuous growth of constructive community interest. A 

 community spirit and even a conmiunity mind must develop, in order 

 to have consistent and unified community action sustained through 

 a period of years and eventually recognized and established as a 

 normal condition of cotton production. It is a mistake to suppose 

 that the problems of community development are to be solved merely 

 by acquiescence or by getting a majority vote in favor of the one- 

 variety plan. An effective preponderance of public opinion must be 

 established and maintained, and this calls for clear understanding 

 and active interest in the progress of the community as well as in 

 the problems of the cotton industry. 



