36 BIILLETIlSr 1111, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



been perfected recently. According to recent information from Prof. 

 C. B. Williams, 58 communities have been organized in different 

 parts of the State, and marked improvements in the crop are re- 

 ported. A general report of the community work published in 1920 

 states that an average increase of $28.97 per acre over a period of five 

 years was obtained from the use of the selected varieties instead of 

 ordinary gin-run seed. An estimate of $41,000,000 is made in an 

 article by F. H, Jeter in the Progressive Farmer as the amount that 

 would have been added to N'orth Carolina farmers' bank accounts 

 if they had all used the varieties of cotton best suited to their needs.'^ 

 Although distinct and valuable progress undoubtedly can be made 

 by getting farmers to plant good seed and discard inferior stocks, 

 even without adopting the one- variety plan, it nevertheless is plain 

 that the full objects and possibilities of unprovement will not be 

 attained. Testing varieties of cotton to determine which is the best 

 for any locality is not easy, on account of the wide fluctuations of 

 seasonal conditions and behavior that must be taken into account 

 before a reliable conclusion can be reached. Even with only two or 

 three varieties in a community many precautions of isolation and 

 separate ginning must be observed. Ginning difficulties are reduced 

 by having certain days to gin the cotton of the different varieties for 

 seed purposes, but thorough cleaning of the gins requires time and 

 labor. Even with the best intentions both the cotton and the seed 

 are likely to be mixed somewhat unless very careful and persistent 

 attention is given. Without these precautions there is the necessity 

 of obtaining new seed of the popular varieties every two or three 

 years. Not only are these difficulties to be avoided by community 

 organization, but one-variety communities are able to sell seed in- 

 stead of having to buy new stocks frequently. 



PIMA COTTON COMMUNITIES. 



The oldest and best established one-variety community is in the 

 Salt Eiver Valley of Arizona, where the Pima variety of Egyptian 

 cotton is grown exclusively. The nature of this development needs 

 especially to be understood because of the efforts that have been 

 made to repeat the successes of the Salt E,iver Valley merely by 

 taking the seed of the Pima variety to other districts, without un- 

 derstanding the one-variety plan that has made it possible to estab- 

 lish the new industry in Arizona and that the same plan may be 

 of value even beyond the range of the Pima variety. Experiments 

 have shown that the Egj^ptian type of cotton is much better adapted 



■^ Jeter, F. H. Your community's cotton reputation. How some communities are build- 

 ing good cotton names and capitalizing- tliem. In Prog. Farmer, v. 36, no, 5, p. 358. 

 1921. 



