ONE-VAEIETY COTTON COMMUNITIES. 47 



sorts, mixture of seed at the public gins, and crossing of different 

 kinds in the fields. 



Varieties of cotton mongrelize rapidly through mixing and cross- 

 ing, with a resulting loss of the uniformity of select stocks, small 

 yields, irregular fiber, inferior textile quality, and lower market 

 price. Such mixing and deterioration take place inevitably in all 

 communities where different kinds of cotton are grown on neighbor- 

 ing farms and taken to the public gins, as is the general custom. 

 Most of the farmers plant ordinary "gin-run" seed, a mixture of 

 many varieties and mongrel, degenerate forms. 



The popular idea that varieties of cotton " run out " rapidly and 

 need to be replaced frequently by new sorts has as a basis of fact 

 that degeneration undoubtedly is caused by the mixing of seed and 

 crossing of the different kinds in the fields. No variety can be kept 

 in a pure, uniform condition if selection and isolation are neglected. 

 The only way to preserve a variety and develop a large stock of pure 

 seed is to grow only one kind of cotton in a community, so that there 

 is neither crossing in the fields nor mixing at the gins to destroy the 

 effect of selection. 



Since the usual conditions of mixed-variety production do not 

 make it possible to develop stocks of pure seed of sufficient volume 

 to provide for full use of a variety, exclusive community production 

 of single varieties is a necessary precaution to maintain adequate 

 stocks of pure seed for general planting over large areas. Commu- 

 nity organization of production is the most effective way of utilizing 

 superior varieties and of applying the results of scientific investiga- 

 tion of problems of heredity and breeding. 



Wider utilization of superior varieties is needed, especially at the 

 present time, in order to advance the quality of our cotton and avoid 

 the competition that is being developed rapidly in foreign countries. 

 Full utilization of varieties is not to be expected unless stocks of pure 

 seed are maintained and increased for general planting over large 

 areas. A very striking demonstration of the advantage of one- 

 variety cotton communities has been secured in the Salt Eiver Valley 

 of Arizona, where only the locally selected Pima variety of Egyp- 

 tian cotton is grown and now is represented by a larger stock of pure 

 seed than any variety in the eastern Cotton Belt. 



Manufacturers have complained for many years of a general and 

 gradual decline in the quality and uniformity of American cotton, 

 and this may be ascribed to the substitution of large public gins for 

 the old system of private plantation gins during the half century 

 since the Civil War. During the same period separately operated 

 small farms and tenant holdings have taken the place of the larger 

 plantation units of production, which doubtless has increased the 



