14 BULLETIN 324, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



facility with which the crop is marketed; it will also have much to 

 do with the price received for the cotton. It requires several seasons 

 of intelligent business management to introduce and establish with 

 the trade a long-staple cotton from a new locality. After the confi- 

 dence of users has been gained and their interest has become estab- 

 lished through reasonable expectation of getting the same high- 

 quality cotton annually from the same center, it is quite probable 

 that great loss to the growing industry would result through any 

 change of varieties. From time to time there will come reports of 

 enormous yields and big returns received from sorts of cotton other 

 than the one grown in the community, but such reports, which are 

 most frequently unauthenticated rumor, should not be permitted to 

 unsettle the basis of the local industry. Because of the distinct ad- 

 vertising value that attaches to the reputation of a superior article 

 the most good will result from the consistent building up of a valuable 

 specialty. 



CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS. 



Continuitjr of activity by the association is essential to the realiza- 

 tion of its greatest efficiency as a stabilizing agency. To limit the 

 activity of the association to the marketing season, from September 



15 to March 15, would occasion a great falling off of interest at the 

 end of one marketing season, which would necessitate a campaign 

 for its revival at the beginning of the following season. Much of 

 the momentum acquired during the marketing season would be lost 

 during the suspension of activity in the growing season. In order to 

 assume its full function toward the grower and the community, the 

 association can not afford to interrupt its activity in this manner. 



Marketing is the function of the association most readily under- 

 stood by the public. There should be no illusion, however, on the 

 part of the directorate or management as to marketing being the 

 sole function of the association. 



Close and sensitive contact with the members of the association 

 should be maintained throughout the growing season by the manage- 

 ment. The condition of every field of association cotton should be on 

 record after actual inspection. If, for instance, a better water supply 

 is required in any district, it is quite possible that the association 

 management can do much to adjust the difficulty promptly, so that 

 the fields may not suffer from drought. The interest the association 

 can show in the growing of marketable cotton by its members will 

 inspire confidence in the organization. 



It is not proposed to outline a program of work to engage the 

 association during the summer months, but rather to indicate the im- 

 portance to the association of the continuity of activity. In actual 

 operation many opportunities will suggest themselves to the man- 



