EAKLIER LONG-STAPLE VARIETIES. 23 



short-staple varieties. In long-staple districts the need of earlier 

 varieties is still more acute. The introduction of the early short- 

 staple varieties into the long-staple districts is not calculated to pre- 

 serve the long-staple industry. There can be little doubt that the 

 difficulty of producing the long staples is increased by the growing of 

 the short-staple varieties in the same neighborhood. More weevils 

 are bred early in the season in the short-staple fields. There is also 

 more danger of admixture of the long-staple with the short-staple 

 varieties, either by cross- fertilization in the fields or by the mixing of 

 seed at the public gins. 



Even before the weevils came, the manufacturers complained that 

 the long-staple varieties were deteriorating, because the fiber was be- 

 coming less uniform. This has been ascribed to the fact that more 

 and more of the ginning has been done in recent years at large pub- 

 lic gins where the seed of the whole community becomes mixed, in- 

 stead of at the smaller private plantation gins which gave much less 

 opportunity for such admixture. If the long-staple varieties con- 

 tinue to decline in uniformity at the same time that the yield is being 

 cut down by the presence of the weevils, there is less prospect of an 

 ultimate survival of the long-staple industry. 



The need of quick- fruiting long-staple varieties has been recog- 

 nized in advance in the cotton-breeding work of the Department of 

 Agriculture. Two such varieties have been developed and distrib- 

 uted, the Columbia cotton, originated by Dr. H. J. Webber, in South 

 Carolina, and the Foster cotton, bred by Dr. D. A. Saunders for the 

 Red Eiver Valley of Louisiana and northeastern Texas. These varie- 

 ties are not only distinctly earlier, but are also more productive than 

 the older long-staple sorts. In their habits of growth they are much 

 more similar to short-staple Upland varieties and they seem to yield 

 at least equally well. Some of the Columbia cotton raised in the sea- 

 son of 1910 has been reported as selling as high as 24 cents a pound. 

 While this price may be considered exceptional, there can be no doubt 

 that a very general increase in the value of the cotton crop could be 

 secured by replacing the present short and variable stocks with such 

 varieties as the Columbia and the Foster. 



The early-maturing characteristics of these varieties give them 

 almost the same advantages of weevil resistance as the early short- 

 staple varieties that are now being grown in former long-staple dis- 

 tricts. The chief difference is that prolonged drought is a greater 

 danger to the long-staple crop than to short staples. The difference 

 is not so much in the ability of the plants to withstand dry weather 

 as in the requirement of continuous growth, if uniform length and 

 strength of fiber are to be secured. If the growth of the plants be 

 checked during the fruiting season, shorter and weaker fiber is the 

 result and the whole crop is injured by the lack of uniformity. The 

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