2 BULLETIN 311, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The purpose of this bulletin is to record the results of these inves- 

 tigations, with special attention to the handling and marketing of 

 cotton, and it records the results of the assistance given by the 

 chief of the office of Markets and Rural Oragnization in cooperation 

 with the Southwestern Cotton Committee. 1 



NECESSITY FOR CLEAN PICKING. 



The Egyptian cotton boll is three lock and somewhat smaller than 

 the average boll of short-staple cotton grown hi the Southern States, 

 and its small size and sharp-pointed burr make clean picking a more 

 difficult task than is the case with ordinary Upland cotton. Since 

 the long, silky fibers of the Egyptian cotton are to be used in the 

 manufacture of fine combed yarns, a great majority of which are 

 mercerized and go into the making of fine goods that resemble 

 silk, it is essential that it be picked free of leaf and hulls. The 

 roller gin does not clean the foreign matter from the seed cotton as 

 some saw gins do, hence the necessity for clean picking by hand. In 

 order to accomplish this end it has been found necessary to pay as 

 high as 2 cents per pound for picking, which enables the laborer to 

 pick the Egyptian cotton carefully and still make a good wage for 

 his day's work. 



The cotton pickers of the Salt River Valley are white settlers from 

 Texas and Oklahoma, Mexicans, and Indians from the Pap ago and 

 Pima Reservations. At first there was a tendency on the part of 

 the pickers to gather the cotton rapidly, making a very large wage at 

 the expense of the grade of the cotton. To avoid this difficulty the 

 farmer was advised that the price and quick sale of his cotton 

 depended largely on the grade, which meant that he must insist upon 

 his cotton being picked clean. The results of clean picking can be seen 



clearly in the table of grades (see Table II, p. ). It will be noted 



that the Mesa and Tempe cotton was picked cleaner than that grown 

 elsewhere in the valley. This clean cotton may be accounted for by 

 the fact that the Indians, who are known to be slow but good pickers, 

 gathered a large part of the Mesa and Tempe crop. This is the first 

 time that Indians have been used as cotton pickers in a commercial 

 way (see PL I, fig. 1). 



1 This committee is composed of five members, as follows, the first named being chairman: C. S. Scofield, 

 agriculturist in charge of Western Irrigation Agriculture; W. T. Swingle, physiologist in charge of Crop 

 Physiology and Breeding Investigations; O. F. Cook, bionomist in charge of Crop Acclimatization and 

 Cotton Breeding Investigations; T. H. Kearney, physiologist in charge of Alkali and Drought Resisting 

 Plant Investigations; Charles J. Brand, chief, office of Markets and Rural Organization in charge of the 

 Cotton Handling and Marketing Investigations herein described. This committee was organized to 

 study the economic and agricultural problems connected with the establishment of this new industry, 

 especially on the irrigation projects of the Salt River Valley of Arizona and the Imperial Valley of Cali- 

 fornia, and it is practically to this committee that the industry in these regions owes its origin and develop- 

 ment. For a description of the establishment and development of the Arizona-Egyptian cotton indus- 

 try in the Southwest, see Scofield, C S., Kearney, T. H., Brand, C J., Cook, O. F., and Swingle, W. T., 

 Community production of Egyptian cotton in Arizona. U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 332. 



