LENGTH OF COTTON LINT, CROPS 1916 AND 1917. 3 
pitious for early seed germination. In much of the cotton-producing 
area of Texas and Oklahoma a severe and damaging drought ex- 
tended throughout almost the entire season. Smaller areas in other 
States also suffered from drought. Boll worms did severe damage in 
portions of north Texas and Oklahoma, and boll-weevil damage cov- 
ered a larger territory than in former years. However, in the older 
weevil-infested areas of Louisiana and Mississippi the damage was 
not so great as for the past several years. While the acreage in these 
States as compared to former years was considerably reduced, the 
crop planted showed the heaviest yield since the first weevil infesta- 
tion. A killing frost, extending over more than half of the cotton 
belt early in October, caught many immature bolls and caused great 
loss in quality, though the weather during the winter was very favor- 
able for gathering " bollies," or frostbitten, immature bolls. Owing 
to the high price prevailing for cotton in the fall and winter of 1917, 
u bollies " were gathered more carefully than in former years. Here- 
tofore the bolly crop Has come almost entirely from the States of 
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri, but during 
the past season considerable quantities of " bollies " were gathered in 
the States farther east. As a result, the bolly crop this year amounts 
to several hundred thousand bales more than in any recent year. The 
first of this cotton to move brought from 5 to 10 cents per pound 
under prices prevailing for middling cotton, but this margin subse- 
quently increased. Even at that, it paid the farmer well to harvest 
the frostbitten cotton. The large proportion of bolly cotton in sev- 
eral of the States materially lowered the average price received for 
the crop. 
SEA ISLAND COTTON. 
The sea-island cotton crop of 1917 was 71,000 bales, against a crop 
of 93,000 bales in 1916, a reduction of 23.7 per cent. This was largely 
because of weevil infestation, the pest having reached approximately 
all the sea-island producing sections of Georgia and Florida. In the 
latter State in 1917 sea-island and other cotton was planted far down 
the peninsula and splendid yields secured. In South Carolina the 
yield was reduced somewhat by the early frost in October. 
Sea-island cotton is bringing phenomenally high prices, and every 
effort is being made by farmers to produce it wherever it will grow 
and maintain its length and strength of fiber. Only a comparatively 
small portion of the cotton-producing area of the United States is 
adapted to the growth of this variety, which, requiring a longer 
maturing season, is especially susceptible to boll- weevil damage. Ex- 
periments were conducted in southern Louisiana the past two seasons 
with both sea-island and Egyptian cotton; the quantity produced 
was small, and it is still in the experimental stage, with a slightly 
increasing acreage. 
