10 BULLETIN 60, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



cotton is likely to be repeated with the Columbia, for mixed stocks 

 are being sold in Texas and elsewhere on an advertising basis, and a 

 large amount of inferior fiber is likely to come into the market. 



Of course, there are some parts of the cotton belt, like the drier 

 portions of Texas, where the conditions are not really favorable for 

 the production of long-staple cotton. Only a few varieties and a 

 few localities may be able to produce a staple equal to that of the 

 Mississippi Delta region, but a large part of the cotton belt could 

 produce excellent long staples if proper care were taken. Most of 

 the former attempts at long-staple production failed, in all proba- 

 bility, not because of agricultural difficulties but because the varie- 

 ties were not kept uniform and because the buyers did not discrimi- 

 nate between the good fiber that was worth a premium and the 

 mixed stocks of long and short cotton that possibly had even less 

 value than short cotton alone. If the mixed fiber had been rejected 

 promptly, no more of it would have been grown and the production 

 of uniform stocks would have continued and increased. Instead of 

 using discrimination in time, the mixing is allowed to go on for two 

 or three years until the stock has deteriorated and the crop has 

 been refused by the manufacturer. Thus, the prospects of establish- 

 ing a new center of long-staple production are seriously diminished, 

 if not altogether destroyed. 



In some respects the best opportunities for developing new long- 

 staple districts are in the irrigated regions of the Southwest. The 

 natural conditions must be admitted to be extremely favorable, with 

 such advantages as rich soil, control of water supply by irrigation, 

 freedom from wet weather in the harvest season, and absence of the 

 boll weevil. Moreover, in these newly settled communities it is 

 easier to secure a general agreement on the planting of a single kind 

 of cotton. In the Salt River Valley of central Arizona, where only 

 Egyptian cotton is grown, the crop has increased from 33 bales in 

 1911 to 262 bales in 1912, and about 3,000 bales are expected in the 

 present season. In the Imperial Valley of southern California there 

 has been a still more rapid expansion of the Durango cotton from 

 about 3 acres in 1911 to 200 acres in 1912 and to about 5,500 acres m 

 1913, using all the seed of this variety that could be bought. If the 

 present crop brings a fair price, the Durango variety is likely to be 

 planted next year for the entire crop of the Imperial Valley, or to 

 an extent of 20,000 to 30,000 acres. 



The danger that seems likely to interfere with the progress of such 

 communities is that the buyers will continue to follow their usual 

 policy of taking the entire crops at flat prices and thus encourage 

 the farmers to neglect the precaution of keeping the varieties pure. 

 It was not to be expected, perhaps, that the manufacturers who 

 bought the small early crops to encourage the pioneer planters would 



