Bales. 



1919 6, 916 



1920 1. 868 



2 BULLETIN- 1030, U. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGRICULTLTIE. 



fiber under favorable conditions 1^1 inches long, of fine texture and 

 quality, and remarkably like the Sea Island cotton. Moreover, on 

 account of its nearly smooth seeds Meade cotton can be handled on 

 the regular Sea Island gins. 



DECLINE OF THE SEA ISLAND INDUSTRY. 



The spread of the boll weevil to include the entire Sea Island sec- 

 tion of the Southeastern States was foreseen several years ago, and 

 it was generally conceded that the rank-growing, late-fruiting habits 

 of the Sea Island cotton would make it particularly susceptible to 

 injury from this pest. That this prediction is being rapidly fulfilled 

 and that the complete destruction of the Sea Island industry is 

 threatened are indicated by the rapid decline in the production of 

 this fiber, as follows : 



Bales. 



1916 117, 559 



1917 92, 619 



3918 52, 208 



With the increasing demand for high-grade fiber for war purposes 

 the situation became acute, and efforts to preserve the industrj^ were 

 made by the United States Department of Agriculture in coopera- 

 tion with the State agricultural experiment stations in the Sea Island 

 belt. Only two avenues of approach seemed open — either the devel- 

 opment of an early strain of Sea Island cotton, from which profitable 

 crops could be grown in the presence of the boll weevil, or the substi- 

 tution of an Upland variety that combined the superior cultural 

 features of this type with a fiber comparable in length and fineness to 

 the Sea Island. 



VALUE OF MEADE COTTON AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR SEA ISLAND 



DEMONSTRATED. 



The favorable results from the first experimental plantings in 

 1916 with Meade cotton on the Sea Islands around Charleston, S. C, 

 led to small commercial plantings the following season at several 

 points in Georgia. Since 1917 the area devoted to Meade cotton has 

 been steadily increasing, but not so rapidly as was at first expected, 

 owing to the failure of many farmers to appreciate the necessity 

 of separating the fields of Meade from other cotton and ginning 

 the crop on a clean gin. The consequent mixing and loss of purity 

 of the stock have prevented the rapid increase in supplies of pure 

 seed that would have been possible if the necessary precautions had 

 been taken. 



During the fi^^e years that Meade cotton has been grown in the 

 Southeastern States it has continued to demonstrate its value as a 

 substitute for the Sea Island. Where definite comparisons have been 

 possible it has produced at least twice as much as the Sea Island 



