6 BULLETIN 146^ IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The refusal of the Carolina planters to sell their seed to Georgia 
and Florida growers has likewise resulted in a general deterioration 
in the quality of the Sea Island cotton grown in those States, w^hich 
is, in reality, 90 to 95 per cent of the Sea Island crop of the United 
States. It has been the custom for years for the farmers of this sec- 
tion to renew at least once in three years their planting seed with 
fresh stock from Carolina. They seemingly did not rely on a seed 
selection from their own fields to keep up or to improve the quality 
of their cotton, and it is even now commonly believed that ''Sea 
Island runs out when planted in the interior or away from the islands 
of Carolina." There can be no question about the deterioration of 
Sea Island cotton when left alone under usual farm conditions or 
when no seed selections are made; but this deterioration is just about 
as marked on the islands of South Carolina when seed selection is 
neglected as it is in Georgia or Florida. Soil and climate, of course, 
influence the kind and amount of lint, but it seems that the chief 
element in determining the character of the product is the kind of 
seed planted.^ The great difference in status between the Carolina 
planters on the one hand and those of Georgia and Florida on the 
other is primarily due to the fact that the former have practiced 
intelligent seed selection for many years, whereas the latter have been 
content to buy the best planting seed that v/as obtainable. About 
four or five years ago, when the Georgia and Florida growers found 
that they could no longer obtain fresh seed from Carolina a few of 
them began to make their own seed selections, with very gratifying 
results, as is shoT\m by the fact that in 1912 one Florida farmer sold 
his cotton at 47 cents per pound, which surpasses the price paid for 
some of the extra fancy cottons marketed at Charleston. 
But the great mass of Georgia and Florida farmers continued to 
plant such seed as they had or else the seed which they bought was 
of inferior quahty, and the result has been a gradual reduction in the 
length, uniformity, and strength of the staple. Chmatic conditions 
during the growing season of 1912 were adverse, and the quality of 
the cotton was still further lowered. To the New England spinner 
these are altogether undesirable qualities in cotton. They have meant 
to him a depreciated value for the home product and, as has been 
already shown, have rendered the introduction and substitution of 
SakeUaridis a matter easily accomphshed. 
(4) Change in styles and enforced economy of 'production. — '^ Troubles 
never come singly," and certainly this was true with the Sea Island 
trade during the year 1912-13. Aside from the troubles already 
enumerated, but possibly growing out of unsettled business condi- 
tions, there was another the influence of which it is hard to overesti- 
mate. This was the question of style, coupled with that of economy. 
1 Cook, O. r. The Relation of Cotton Buying to Cotton Growing, XJ. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Bulletin 60, p. 12. 
