THE RELATION OP COTTON BUYING TO COTTON GROWING. 19 



as the yield. The crop is reduced by the shedding of floral buds and 

 young bolls. Bolls that are farther advanced are not so likely to be 

 shed, but they often fail to reach normal maturity and produce weak, 

 inferior fiber. Thus, long and short fiber or strong and weak fiber are 

 often to be found on the same plant. 



Some varieties have a tendency to inequality in the length of lint, 

 the fiber at the base of the seed often being much shorter than that 

 at the top. This difference of length sometimes amounts to half an 

 inch or even more, giving the so-called "butterfly" outline, when the 

 fiber is combed out from the sides of the seed. This factor of ine- 

 quality may be avoided by choosing varieties that do not have the 

 undesirable butterfly tendency. The new Durango type of long- 

 staple cotton is unusually free from this defect. 



There are other factors of inequahty in addition to the mixing 

 of varieties or the failure to continue selection. A farmer who has' 

 planted pure seed may still have only inferior cotton if his soil is 

 poor or his methods careless, either in raising or picking the crop, 

 or if the fiber is damaged by rain during the harvest season. The 

 condition of the cotton must be taken into account apart from the 

 quality. Good cotton may be in bad condition, but poor cotton 

 can not be made good by careful handling at the end of the season. 

 The farmer who plants mixed seed can not produce imiform fiber, 

 no matter how favorable the conditions or how careful the methods 

 in other respects. Quality is best determined by field inspection, 

 for any form of inequality can be detected in the field much more 

 easily than in the bale. 



ECONOMIC PECULIARITIES OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY. 



Cotton differs from many other crops in that it can not be used on 

 the farm or by retail consumers in the neighboring town. There is 

 no possibility of the cotton grower dealing directly with an individual 

 consumer of cotton, unless he should return to the manufacture 

 of his own cloth, as in colonial times. The modern industry is organ- 

 ized on the basis of assembling a large quantity of fiber to supply a 

 vast manufacturing establishment. As economy of production 

 depends on this concentration of suppHes, we may say that raw 

 cotton has only a wholesale market. The retail market is not 

 reached until the manufactured goods are distributed. Thus, the 

 cotton crop is pecuharly dependent on its commercial environment, 

 because the farmer has no alternative but to sell tO the manufacturer 

 or his representative, the cotton buyer. This absence of ordinary 

 retail competition may be considered as a reason for the persistent 

 demand for special legislation to control the marketing of cotton. 



The economy and efl^iciency of the present system of concentration 

 of manufacturing processes depends on the supply of suitable mate- 



