EXTENSION OF COTTON PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA. 11 



tion and handling of cotton would run far into the millions, and even 

 into the hundreds of millions. Thus, there is reason to believe that 

 refinements in methods of production and handling, like those that 

 have been worked out in California for fruits and other special prod- 

 ucts, could be applied with very great advantage to cotton. Al- 

 though cotton is not a perishable product, its value depends very 

 largely upon the condition in which it is placed upon the market. 

 Taking into account the experience that agricultural communities 

 in California have had in working out and applying special methods 

 of production, handling, and marketing their crops, it would seem 

 that the possibilities of producing cotton of the highest quality and 

 placing it in the market in the best condition are more likely to 

 be attained in that State. 



Another advantage of cotton as an element of diversified farm- 

 ing is that it is less exigent than most other crops in demanding 

 labor at particular times. Cotton can be planted early and thinned 

 early or planted late and thinned late if allowance be made by leav- 

 ing the plants of the later thinnings closer together. Early plant- 

 ings may be made in March or as soon as the danger of cold weather 

 is past, but the planting may continue through April and May. 

 Even June plantings are sometimes successful. 



Unlike fruits and other perishable products that have to be gath- 

 ered and shipped or cured at once or within a very few days after 

 the proper stage of maturity is reached, cotton can be picked through 

 a long season. The bolls open at maturity, but the cotton remains in 

 place and in dry weather suffers no injury by being left on the plants 

 for a week, or even a month. The picking season may extend over a 

 period of two, three, or four months. 



In the interior valleys of California cotton begins to open in Sep- 

 tember. Picking probably would commence soon after the grape 

 harvest and extend through November or even till Christmas. It is 

 better, of course, not to wait too long after the bolls have opened, 

 for some of the cotton is likely to fall out or become soiled or stained 

 from rain or dust. But even these contingencies, while they reduce 

 the value of the cotton, do not result in total loss, as they would with 

 many other crops. 



COTTON CULTURE A COMMUNITY UNDERTAKING. 



With general reference to the warmer parts of the San Joaquin 

 and Sacramento Valleys it may be said that the chief question is not 

 whether cotton could be grown or whether its culture could be made 

 as profitable as others that are being followed, but whether there are 

 communities of farmers who will organize for such an undertaking. 

 Some form of organization is a practical necessity for beginning 

 cotton culture in a new region. Unlike many other crops that can 



