PAOKlNQ AND iCAB&BTtNO OF COITOK. 33 



CULTIVATION OP COTTON BT TTPE8. 



The demonstration work being done by the Department of Agri- 

 ture and the plans in formulation for its extension are certain to 

 prove of the highest value to producers of cotton. Under existing 

 conditions many farmers aim to produce the largest quantity of cot- 

 ton regardless of quality. The farmer is fully cognizant of the fact 

 that different values attach to different grades, but has not the expert 

 knowledge re(^uired to differentiate between them, and therefore has 

 no refuge agamst the trained expert who analyzes and fixes a price 

 for his cotton. By experimentation the Department of Agriculture 

 has demonstrated that certain types of cotton can be more success- 

 fully grown in certain localities as regards both quantity and quality. 

 Therefore efforts will be made to induce farmers to plant the type 

 that will bring them the best and most profitable return. By this 

 plan types would tend to become associated with certain geographical 

 sections, farmers would acquire thorough familiarity with all the 

 qualities of their product, incentive to still higher achievement would 

 Be incited, and the producer would be freed in a large measure from 

 the workings of the present intricate and arbitrary system of classi- 

 fication. 



BENEFITS ACCETJING TO TARMEES. 



The benefits that would accrue to the farmer and advantages that 

 would come to trade generally from the cultivation of selected types 

 in particular sections and by entire communities must be apparent to 

 all who will give the matter serious consideration. This system of 

 cultivation has been adopted by individual producers in several of 

 the cotton-growing States with beneficial results, notably in South 

 Carolina and Texas. In the former State the authorities are direct- 

 ing the attention of farmers to the importance of cultivating certain 

 types. Col. E. J. Watson, commissioner of agriculture, briefly refers 

 to the development of varieties of' upland long-staple cotton for plant- 

 ing, in all sections of the State, in his annual report covering opera- 

 tions for the calendar year 1911. The commissioner says : 



During the past year experiments with these varieties of cotton were estended 

 and staple was developed from IJ to IJ inches in length, with the yield three 

 times as great as Sea Island at a less cost of production and a yield per acre 

 practically equal to any of the varieties of upland cotton. The plants also 

 developed drought-resistant and early maturing qualities that were scarcely 

 expected. • • * For all of this class of cotton grown in this State this 

 year prices averaging approximately 17J cents per pound have been paid. There 

 is now ii great demand for the selected seed in order to enable the producer to 

 raise this staple and deal directly with manufacturers at home. 



The results obtained in South Carolina from growing selected 

 types accentuate the wisdom of the Department of Agriculture in 

 pushing its plans for the cultivation throughout the cotton belt of 

 types best adapted to particular sections. 



COOPERATION OF GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS IN WORK. 



It is perhaps outside the province of this inquiry to discuss policies 

 that should govern and methods that should be followed in the cul- 

 tivation of cotton, yet the production of the crop is so closely allied 



