EXTENSION OF COTTON PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA. 5 



not being stated. The counties from which successful plantings were 

 reported in the early period are Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Kern, Lake, 

 Los Angeles, Merced, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Barbara, 

 Shasta, Sutter, Tulare, and Yolo. Other counties supposed to afford 

 conditions favorable for cotton were Napa, Sonoma, and Tehama. 

 The general conclusions reached by Hilgard from his detailed investi- 

 gations of the California cotton industry in 1879 were stated as 

 follows : 



From the record above given it appears that cotton has been successfully 

 grown at many points, practically covering the whole of the great valley, a 

 part of the foothill lands of Shasta and a part of Napa County, and to the 

 southward all the agricultural portion of the southern region. By inference 

 drawn from similarity of climate and products, without direct test, we may 

 include within the possible cotton-growing portions of the State the valleys of 

 Napa and Sonoma, the agricultural portion of Lake County, the foothill region 

 of Tehama, and the entire lower foothills of the Sierra. On the other hand, 

 all the bay region, as well as the seaward valleys of the entire Coast Range, 

 are excluded from the cotton-growing area by reason of the cool summers, trade 

 winds, and fogs to which they are subject. 

 , In addition it may be broadly stated that in the Sacramento Valley cotton 

 may on deep soils be grown without irrigation, while in the San Joaquin 

 Valley it, like all other crops, must be irrigated to insure profitable returns. 

 The best experience seems, moreover, to indicate that, as in the case of the 

 vine, the minimum irrigation that will enable the plant to develop is that which 

 on the whole gives the best results, inasmuch as late irrigation especially tends 

 to retard the opening of the bolls and in the low portions of the fields to 

 start new growth, leaving the older bolls stationary. 



The Sea Island variety is a failure thus far wherever tried. That cotton 

 culture has not assumed larger proportions in California as yet is adequately 

 explained by the fact that the home market is, in the absence of cotton factories, 

 extremely limited, and the long distance from the world's markets renders 

 competition with the Atlantic Cotton States on the one hand and with India on 

 the other a doubtful matter, which could be turned in favor of California only 

 by exceptional circumstances, such as peculiar excellence of the staple. At the 

 same time, cotton production has been found profitable so far as the home 

 demand has gone, and good prices have been obtained ; and when exported the 

 California staple has rated high in comparison with the average product of the 

 Gulf States. 



What, then, are the inducements toward an expansion of cotton culture in 

 California and the possible establishment of cotton factories on the coast to 

 create a home demand? 



With the equalization of the prices of labor, in consequence of increased 

 facilities of communication, there certainly is no reason why the home demand 

 for cotton goods on the Pacific coast should not be supplied from home growth 

 and manufacture, and there is reason why it might secure a large share of 

 the Asiatic market, with which it is in the most direct connection. 1 



Hilgard referred to plantings of Sea Island cotton in several locali- 

 ties, but in no case was success reported from this type of cotton. In 



1 Hilgard, E. W. Report on the physical and agricultural features of the State of 

 California, with a discussion of the present and future of cotton production in the 

 State. . . p. 76-77. In U. S. Dept. Int., Census Off., 10th Census, v. 6, pt. 2. 1884. 



