20 BULLETIN 332, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to interest the buyers. Another factor has been the willingness of 

 progressive manufacturers who recognize the need of developing new 

 sources of long-staple supply to purchase and try out this cotton 

 while its production was still in the experimental stage. 



The few hundred bales produced in 1912 were readily disposed of 

 at good prices, being purchased by a firm of thread manufacturers. 

 In 1913 the dull condition of the cotton market and the lack of 

 established contracts between the growers' associations and the spin- 

 ners of staple cottons retarded the disposal of the much larger crop. 

 The portion of the crop controlled by the associated growers was, 

 however, finally sold on satisfactory terms through a large inter- 

 national firm of cotton buyers, which sent an agent to Arizona to 

 superintend the purchase and shipment of the crop. 



In 1914 the same cotton-buying firm, which has shown a construc- 

 tive interest in the development of Egyptian-cotton growing in the 

 Salt Eiver Valley, again handled a large proportion of the crop, and 

 it was moved out promptly, either on actual sale or on consignment, 

 as fast as it was ginned and classed. On the other hand, some of 

 the individual growers who did not belong to the cooperative asso- 

 ciations experienced difficulty in disposing of their cotton. 



It should be noted that ever since the establishment of the indus- 

 try the crop has been sold each year in open competition with the 

 vastly larger crop produced in Egypt. The effective organization of 

 the Arizona growers and the intelligent application of the best prin- 

 ciples in growing, handling, and marketing the crop and in main- 

 taining the seed supply are largely responsible for this satisfactory 

 result. 



MAINTENANCE OF THE SEED SUPPLY. 



It was pointed out in an earlier publication * what steps should be 

 taken by the associated growers and what kind of assistance the 

 Department of Agriculture could furnish in guarding against the 

 deterioration of the seed used for planting. 



The growers having signified their desire to cooperate with the 

 department along these lines, experts were detailed during the sum- 

 mer of 1913 to rogue a limited acreage of well-grown cotton in 

 order to obtain seed for increase during 1914 and for general plant- 

 ing in 1915. In 1914 the department's experts, assisted by repre- 

 sentatives of the Salt Eiver Valley Egyptian-Cotton Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, rogued about 100 acres which had been planted with seed 

 from the fields which were rogued in 1913. Every plant in this 

 acreage was examined, and the unproductive and off-type plants, 

 amounting to about 1 per cent of the total, were removed. The 



1 Kearney, T. H. Seed selection of Egyptian cotton. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 38, 8 p. 

 1913. 



