18 BULLETIN 60, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE, 



direct buying from the farmer or in placing orders with buyers who 

 would, in tiu^n, find it to their interest to know in advance the possi- 

 bihty of supplying the needs of their more discriminating customers. 



The same amount of skill that is now used in classifying cotton in 

 the bale could be applied much more effectively in the field, and with 

 enormous advantage to agriculture in assuring the farmer a return 

 for the special care required to produce superior fiber. The chief 

 obstacle to the adoption of such methods of buying on a basis of field 

 inspection is that neither the manufacturers nor the buyers have, at 

 present, any famiharity with cotton in the field, either with the 

 plants as they grow or with the fiber as it comes from the b3lls. A 

 certain amount of time is required to become famihar with the plant 

 and lint characters, as they have to be judged in the field, but any- 

 body who is able to make the fine discriminations necessary in class- 

 ing cotton in the bale would have no serious difficulty in learning to 

 distinguish the different kinds of plants in a mixed field or in recog- 

 nizing differences in the lint while still on the seeds. Indeed, the 

 recognition of such differences is really much easier than the classi- 

 fication of cotton in the bale, because the differences are greater and 

 more obvious, and because it is seldom necessary to depend upon one 

 character alone. Varieties differ, usually, by many characters, and 

 even in the same variety several characters o^re likely to be changed 

 under a different set of external conditions. If the lint is shortened 

 by adverse conditions, the bolls and leaves are hkely to be smaller 

 and the whole aspect of the plants will be different. Sufficient 

 famiharity with the characters and behavior of a variety enables one 

 to teU in advance with considerable confidence the length and strength 

 of the hnt . before taking it in hand, or even before the bolls have 



opened. 



OTHER CAUSES OF UNEVEN FIBER. 



It is true that mixing varieties and diversity among the plants in 

 the field are not the only causes of inequality in the length and 

 strength of cotton fiber. Unless the conditions of growth are favor- 

 able, even the best variety may yield only inferior cotton. Adverse 

 conditions during a part of the crop season may render the fiber 

 uneven, notwithstanding the care that may have been taken to keep 

 the stock pure. As a result of differences in the soil, one part of a 

 field may grow good fiber while another part of the same field may 

 yield only inferior fiber. When one side of a field is allowed to grow 

 up in weeds, an adverse effect on the fiber is often apparent. Inequal- 

 ities of soil or moisture supply are often shown in a striking manner 

 in the growth of the plants. 



Any sudden change of conditions of growth, such as checking the 

 plants by drought or forcing them into very rapid development by 

 heat and moisture, is likely to affect the quality of the fiber as weU 



