LENGTH OF COTTON LINT, CROPS 1916 AND 1917. 3 



pitious for early seed germination. In much of the cotton-producing 

 area of Texas and Oklahoma a severe and damaging drought ex- 

 tended throughout almost the entire season. Smaller areas in other 

 States also suffered from drought. Boll worms did severe damage in 

 portions of north Texas and Oklahoma," and boll-weevil damage cov- 

 ered a larger territory than in former years. However, in the older 

 weevil-infested areas of Louisiana and Mississippi the damage was 

 not so great as for the past several years. While the acreage in these 

 States as compared to former years was considerably reduced, the 

 crop planted showed the heaviest yield since the first weevil infesta- 

 tion. A killing frost, extending over more than half of the cotton 

 belt early in October, caught many immature bolls and caused great 

 loss in quality, though the weather during the winter was very favor- 

 able for gathering " bollies," or frostbitten, immature bolls. Owing 

 to the high price prevailing for cotton in the fall and winter of 1917, 

 " bollies " were gathered more carefully than in former years. Here- 

 tofore the bolly crop has come almost entirely from the States of 

 Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri, but during 

 the past season considerable quantities of " bollies " were gathered in 

 the States farther east. As a result, the bolly crop this year amounts 

 to several hundred thousand bales more than in any recent year. The 

 first of this cotton to move brought from 5 to 10 cents per pound 

 under prices prevailing for middling cotton, but this margin subse- 

 quently increased. Even at that, it paid the farmer well to harvest 

 the frostbitten cotton. The large proportion of bolly cotton in sev- 

 eral of the States materially lowered the average price received for 

 the crop. 



SEA ISLAND COTTON. 



The sea-island cotton crop of 1917 was 71,000 bales, against a crop 

 of 93,000 bales in 1916, a reduction of 23.7 per cent. This was largely 

 because of weevil infestation, the pest having reached approximately 

 all the sea-island producing sections of Georgia and Florida. In the 

 latter State in 1917 sea-island and other cotton was planted far down 

 the peninsula and splendid yields secured. In South Carolina the 

 yield was reduced somewhat by the early frost in October. 



Sea-island cotton is bringing phenomenally high prices, and every 

 effort is being made by farmers to produce it wherever it will grow 

 and maintain its length and strength of fiber. Only a comparatively 

 small portion of the cotton-producing area of the United States is 

 adapted to the growth of this variety, which, requiring a longer 

 maturing season, is especially susceptible to boll- weevil damage. Ex- 

 periments were conducted in southern Louisiana the past two seasons 

 with both sea-island and Egyptian cotton; the quantity produced 

 was small, and it is still in the experimental stage, with a slightly 

 increasing acreage. 



