6 BULLETIN 533, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



a published newspaper article an ill-advised planting of over 500 

 acres of Sea Island cotton in Colusa County was mentioned. The cot- 

 ton had only begun to bloom in October when the crop should have 

 been ripe ; yet a few Upland plants that grew in the same field had 

 fruited abundantly. The best results were claimed for Upland short 

 staples from Tennessee and Georgia, but an Upland long-staple va- 

 riety called " Petit Gulf," from Louisiana, is said to have done well 

 in several places. 



Cotton was urged by Hilgard as a better crop than wheat for many 

 of the lands of the central valleys, on the ground of being less likely 

 to lead to exhaustion of the soil, as less likely to lead to harmful con- 

 centration of alkali in the surface layers of the soil on account of 

 being a tillage crop, and as needing less water for irrigation purposes 

 than other crops that had been proposed as substitutes for wheat. 

 The point was made that cotton could be exported while alfalfa could 

 not, and that the California grower would have a great advantage 

 over his southern competitor in not having to " fight the grass." 



It is evident throughout Hilgard's report that he looked upon cot- 

 ton as one of the California industries that were sure to develop, and 

 this idea finds very definite expression in the statement that closes his 

 general discussion: 



Keeping all these points in view, the writer can not but think that the wider 

 introduction of cotton culture into California is but a question of time, and that 

 in many respects it will serve to improve the agricultural prosperity of the 

 State. 



EXTENT OF POSSIBLE COTTON TERRITORY IN CALIFORNIA. 



Of new territory readily available for cotton in the United States, 

 California probably has the largest areas. Recent demonstrations of 

 cotton possibilities have been afforded by the beginnings that have 

 been made in the Imperial Valley and the Colorado Valley in extreme 

 southern California, but the San Joaquin and other more northern 

 valleys contain much larger areas of irrigated or readily irrigable 

 land that might be used for cotton. Hilgard estimated that one-third 

 of the agricultural land of the State lay in the central valleys, w T ith 

 an area of more than 17,000 square miles. While only a part of this 

 territory is suited to cotton, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that 

 the central valleys might produce about 10 times as much cotton as 

 the Imperial Valley. 



It is to be expected that much of the cotton will be grown on the 

 level lands in the open valley where fruits and other tender crops are 

 excluded by low winter temperatures, but places may also be found 

 for cotton as an additional crop in communities that are now devoted 

 to fruit growing or other industries. Indeed, the best results are 

 likely to be secured, at least at first, in communities that are already 



