COMMUNITY PRODUCTION OF EGYPTIAN COTTON. 21 



work was clone early in July, soon after blossoming began, in order 

 to take out the inferior plants before their pollen should contaminate 

 those left in the field. Of the cotton grown from seed produced by 

 fields which were rogued in 1914, about 100 acres were rogued during 

 the summer of 1015, somewhat less than 1 per cent of the plants 

 being removed. 



The association undertakes to have the seed from the rogued fields 

 ginned under such conditions as to avoid mixing with other seed and 

 also to have the seed sacked and tagged as it comes from the gins, 

 in order to prevent mixture while it is held in storage. The rogued 

 seed is placed by the association in the hands of careful farmers hav- 

 ing good land sufficiently remote from other cotton to prevent crossing. 

 The fields planted under these conditions are inspected during the 

 summer, and the product of those which are properly grown and 

 are otherwise satisfactory is ginned separately, in order to furnish 

 seed for general planting the second year after the roguing is done. 

 Thus, the seed used for general planting in 1916 will be derived 

 from the fields which were rogued in 1914, and that which is used 

 for general planting in 1917 will be derived from the fields rogued 

 in 1915. It is believed that the seed from inspected fields can be 

 sold for planting at a price very little above current oil-mill prices, 

 thus removing the temptation to plant un selected seed because it is 

 cheaper. 



If the growers' association follows year after year the plan thus 

 outlined it is to be expecte'd that deterioration, if it occurs, will be 

 so gradual that there will be time for the substitution of a pure 

 strain selected and multiplied at the plant-breeding station. 



AGRICULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS OF THE CROP. 



The outstanding agricultural feature of cotton production in Ari- 

 zona is the value of the crop in the farm rotation. Alfalfa, which 

 occupies more than half the irrigated land in the Salt River Valley, 

 is the basis of the agriculture of that locality; but the alfalfa fields 

 after a few years become so badly infested with Bermuda grass and 

 other weeds that their value is greatly impaired. It has been found 

 that these old alfalfa fields, when thoroughly broken up and worked 

 into good tilth, yield large crops of cotton. At the same time the 

 intertillage of the cotton crop while the plants are young and the 

 complete shading of the ground later in the summer effectually rid 

 the land of weeds. One or two well-tilled crops of cotton following 

 alfalfa will leave the land clean and in excellent condition for re- 

 seeding with alfalfa or for growing other crops. Because of its 

 renovating value in the farm rotation, cotton is a valuable crop for 

 the Salt Eiver Valley, quite aside from the cash returns it brings. 



