UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 332 * 



sUV"&mru 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



SKW^mTU 



Washington, D. C. 



January 13, 1916 



COMMUNITY PRODUCTION OF EGYPTIAN COTTON 

 IN THE UNITED STATES. 



By 0. S. Scofield, T. H. Keaeney, C. J, Brand, O. F. Cook, and W. T. Swingle 

 (constituting the Committee on Southwestern Cotton Culture). 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Sources of long-staple cotton 2 



Character and supply of Egyptian cotton 3 



American consumption of Egyptian cotton 4 



Production of Egyptian cotton in America 5 



Future possibilities of the industry 7 



Comparison of American and Egyptian condi- 

 tions 8 



Early attempts to establish Egyptian-cotton 



growing in the United States 10 



Beginning of experiments in the Southwest 11 



Unsatisfactory character o f the original stocks. . 12 



Development of more uniform varieties 12 



Maintaining the purity of the variety 13 



Solving theproblems of commercial production. 14 



Cooperative organization of the growers 15 



Labor for picking 10 



Page. 



Community credit for financing the crop 17 



Ginning in relation to production 18 



Grading the crop 19 



Marketing the crop 19 



Maintenance of the seed supply 20 



Agricultural relationships of the crop 21 



Cost of production 22 



Tillage methods 24 



Late thinning and close spacing 24 



Undesirability of ratooning Egyptian cotton. . . 25 



Enemies of the crop 25 



Conditions of successful Egyptian-cotton pro- 

 duction 26 



Conclusion 27 



List of publications bearing on Egyptian cot- 

 ton growing in the Southwestern States 2S 



INTRODUCTION. 



The purposes of this bulletin are to tell how Egyptian-cotton pro- 

 duction became established in the Southwest as a result of community 

 action, to describe the present status of the industry, and to give the 

 reasons for encouraging the growing of this type of cotton in the 

 United States. Attention is also directed to the conditions which 

 appear to be indispensable to its successful commercial production 

 in this country. It is believed that Egyptian cotton can not be 

 profitably grown except under irrigation and in the absence of the 

 boll weevil. This would exclude it from consideration in any por- 

 tion of what is generally known as the cotton belt. 



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-Bull. 



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