6 BULLETIN 60, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGPJCULTUKE. 
by failure to mark the bags or to keep them separate. The different lots were piled in 
the same warehouse and some of the piles fell down. 
In one instance, at least, seed of another variety had been distributed as Durango 
on the careless assumption that all kinds of long-staple cotton were much the same, 
so that a substitution would be only a mild form of deception. The seed used in this 
instance to replace Durango was of an inferior mixed stock and would s:ive a very 
misleading idea of the variety. 
Unmixed Durango cotton raised in the Imperial Valley was sent to the public gin 
and the seed allowed to pass through the conveyors which had been used with short- 
staple cotton and contained a quantity of the short-staple seed. An appreciable mix- 
ture with the short-staple cotton, in some fields from 4 to 6 per cent, occurred in this 
manner. 
Admixture of Durango cotton with Egyptian also resulted from putting Durango 
seed into sacks in which Egyptian seed cotton had been carried to the gins. Fields 
planted with this seed showed a scattering of Egyptian plants among the Durango. 
The changing of sacks without proper care in cleaning them, it would seem, might 
be a very common cause of mixture. 
The purity of another carefully guarded field of Durango cotton was jeopardized by 
the carelessness of a neighbor who had left some short-staple seed by the roadside 
In preparing the land for the Durango cotton some of the short-staple seed was dragged 
into the field. The owner knew nothing of this until the scattering short-staple plants 
were noticed in one corner of the field, and then the origin of the contamination was 
traced. In this case immediate attention was given to the removal of the short-staple 
plants, which were easily distinguished from the Durango. 
A final instance is that of a farmer who took pains to secure a good stock of Durango 
seed for planting his field, but he did not secure a complete stand so replanted 
with Triumph short-staple cotton to fill the vacant places. 
As a result of such accidents and oversights a large proportion of the fields are more 
or less contaminated. But a few of the growers who were able to secure clean seed 
are following the advice of the Department of Agriculture in order to preserve the 
purity of theb seed. They have planted on land uncontaminated with other cotton 
and will use proper precaution to prevent mixing with other varieties in handling 
and ginning the cotton in the fall. They propose to carry through, for planting in 
1914, quantities of Durango seed as clean as the stock from which it is being grown 
this season. 
The number of these more careful or more fortunate farmers is not large, but the 
seed they are raising would plant a large acreage of pure Durango next year if the 
importance of using clean seed were properly appreciated. But as long as the farmers 
who have mixed fields can get as high a price for their fiber as those who have pure 
fields, they are likely to continue the planting of their mixed stocks instead of making 
a new beginning with pure seed and guarding with more care against contamination 
in the future. 
DISCRIMINATION IN BUYING MORE IMPORTANT THAN HIGH PRICES. 
That prices determine the production of a crop is a familiar idea, 
but the state of the cotton industry shows that high prices alone 
can not be relied upon to increase the production of superior fiber. 
The buying of the crop with proper discrimination is just as neces- 
sary in establishing and maintaining production as any factor of 
climate, soil, cultivation, or other agricultural requirement. The 
higher grades of Egyptian cotton are now worth approximately 
twice as much as the standard middling grade of short staples, while 
