PKODUCTTON OF AMERICAN" EGYPTIAN" COTTON. 13 



Yield tests and spinning tests of the Yuma cotton carried on 

 during several years demonstrated that a stable variety, uniform in 

 its characters and producing fiber of good spinning quality, had at 

 last been obtained. Seed was therefore placed in the hands of 

 farmers in the Salt Eiver and Imperial Valleys in 1912, with the 

 results described on preceding pages. 



From the Yuma variety there has originated another very distinct 

 new type, which has received the name " Pima " and which surpasses 

 the parent variety in earliness, size of the bolls, and. length and qual- 

 ity of the fiber. The staple of the Pima variety ranges from If to If 

 inches and the fiber is lighter colored than that of the Yuma variety. 

 In cooperation with the Tempe Exchange, one of the cooperative 

 growers' associations in the Salt Eiver Valley, Pima seed was dis- 

 tributed from the Sacaton station in 1916 for planting 252- acres in 

 an area isolated from all other cotton. These fields yielded at the 

 rate of 1 bale per acre, 251 bales of 500 pounds having been produced. 

 The Pima cotton having found immediate favor with spinners, the 

 resulting seed was used in 1917 to plant 6,700 acres in the same dis- 

 trict, which produced approximately 3,000 bales. Nearly 95 per cent 

 of the cotton acreage in the Salt Eiver Valley and the entire acre- 

 ages of Egyptian cotton in the Yuma and Imperial Valleys are now 

 (1918) of the Pima variety. 



SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION. 



As the work of establishing the new industry progressed it became 

 apparent that the economic and agricultural problems could best be 

 met by enlisting the cooperation of several men representing differ- 

 ent lines of experimental work in the Department of Agriculture, 

 each of whom was able to contribute special knowledge and experi- 

 ence. The cooperation was at first informal, but later, as the re- 

 sponsibilities increased, it was thought advisable to create a special 

 committee to carry on this work. A " Committee on Southwestern 

 Cotton Culture " was therefore appointed in 1910 by the Chief of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. 1 



1 The personnel of the committee is now as follows : 



K. F. Kellerman, Associate Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, is chairmatn of the 

 committee. 



C. J. Brand, Chief of the Bureau of Markets, has charge of the investigations in< class- 

 ing, marketing, and transportation. 



O. F. Cook, Bionomist in Charge of Crop-Acclimatization and Cotton-Breeding Investi- 

 gations, conducts investigations of the factors involved in the acclimatization of different 

 types of cotton in the Southwest and of the relation of these factors to cultural methods. 

 He has also taken the lead in developing the idea of community cotton growing as a 

 means to the maintenance of uniform varieties. 



T. H. Kearney, Physiologist in Charge of Alkali and Drought Resistant Plant Investiga- 

 tions, has charge of the breeding work with Egyptian cotton and of the investigations of 

 the effect of alkali and other soil conditions upon the production of this crop. 



C S. Scofield, Agriculturist in Charge of Western Irrigation Agriculture, has charge 

 of those phases of the work which involve cooperation with the United States Reclama- 



