18 BULLETIN 742, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



cotton. The charge made for ginning Egyptian cotton in the Salt 

 River Valley was until recently about $10 per bale, but was increased 

 to $14 in 1917. 



Instead of depending upon custom- ginning two of the associations 

 of cotton growers in the Salt River Valley operate their own plants. 

 The experience of these farmers, which is in accord with that of 

 farmers in the eastern cotton belt, indicates that the best results are 

 obtained when the ginning is under the control of the producers. 

 The market value of cotton may be very greatly reduced by careless 

 ginning, and when the gin operator has no other interest than to 

 secure the largest possible outturn the commercial value of the 

 product is likely to be impaired. 



Cotton ginning is a technical operation which requires experience 

 and skill to secure the best results. The cooperative ownership and 

 management of a gin by the growers does not in itself insure capable 

 and efficient management, but it does afford the owners of the crop 

 an opportunity to insist upon the work being properly done. This 

 opportunity is seldom afforded when the cotton is handled by custom 

 gins. In either case it is of the utmost importance to the growers 

 that the crop be classed or graded by a capable and impartial expert 

 as soon as it leaves the gin. Prompt grading serves to warn the 

 farmer if either the picking or ginning is being poorly done and 

 gives him this warning in time to enable him to have better work 

 done. 



The grower is interested in the way the ginning is done, not only 

 because of its effect on the value of his lint, but also because of its 

 relation to his supply of seed for planting. Where only uncontrolled 

 custom ginning is available the grower has small chance of main- 

 taining the purity of his seed. 1 



The opinion appears to be gaining ground among students of cot- 

 ton production that the improvement of the industry depends fully 

 as much upon good ginning as upon good cultivation or good picking. 

 The surest way to obtain good ginning is by cooperative ownership 

 and operation of the gins. 



GRADING THE CROP. 



It was pointed out on a preceding page that uniform grades of 

 Egyptian cotton must be established and maintained from year to 

 year if the crop is to find ready sale at its full value. In recognition 

 of this fact steps were taken in 1913 to establish standards of the 

 different types and grades produced in the crop of Yuma cotton of 



1 Experiments that demonstrate in a striking manner the readiness with which seeds 

 of different varieties of cotton become mixed in commercial ginning establishments have 

 been described recently by D. A. Saunders and P. V. Cardon. (Custom ginning as a 

 factor in cotton-seed deterioration. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 288, 8 p., 5 flg. 1915.) 



