THE RELATION OF COTTON BUYING TO C0TT0X GROWIXG. 9 
the district around Hartsville, largely as the result of the public- 
spirited efforts of Mr. D. R. Coker. This new long-staple industry 
is based on the Columbia type of long-staple cotton originally selected 
from a short-staple stock by Dr. H. J. Webber, then of the United 
States Department of Agriculture. Mr. Coker has not only main- 
tained the Columbia stock and developed special selections from it, 
but. what is even more important, has assumed the responsibility 
of buying and finding a market for all of the good Columbia cotton 
that is raised by his neighbors. Familiarity with the variety has 
enabled him to buy with discrimination and thus encourage the use 
of pure seed in a much more effective way than would have been 
possible if attention had been given to breeding alone without partici- 
pation in the commercial field. Farmers who mixed their cotton 
could not sell it except at a lower price than those who had a pure 
stock, and thus the quality of the long-staple cotton grown about 
Hartsville has been maintained. Mr. Coker's services to his com- 
munity as* a discriminating buyer should be even more highly appre- 
ciated than his efforts at breeding improved strains. There are other 
districts where the Columbia cotton has fallen into the hands of 
careless or inexperienced buyers, and where the planting of pure 
seed was not encouraged by the necessary discrimination in price. 
The result, as might be expected, is that the New England spinners 
are buying long-staple cotton from Hartsville while refusing that of 
other localities where the natural conditions are favorable but where 
the precautions that are necessary to maintain uniformity have been 
neglected for lack of proper discrimination in buying. Thus, the 
presence of a careless or incompetent buyer is a serious danger to the 
long-staple prospects of a community. 
Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to grow Upland long- 
staple cotton in the Carolinas in the last half century. The last was 
made a few years ago in connection with a long-staple variety called 
Florodora, which was planted in many places as a result of extensive 
advertising of the seed. But the necessary uniformity was lacking 
in this variety, with the result that both the manufacturer and the 
farmer were disappointed and returned to the idea that only short 
staples could be grown to advantage. The lesson that lack of uni- 
formity in the variety was the chief cause of failure was not learned. 
The same lack of uniformity is to be expected in any long-staple 
variety that is brought into a short-staple region and not guarded 
against admixture with other varieties and degenerate sports. The 
note of disappointment is already beginning to be heard from manu- 
facturers who have experimented with inferior stocks of Columbia 
cotton and have thus reached an adverse opinion of the possibi tfcies 
of a lorg-staple industry in South Carolina, or in other States where 
the Columbia cotton may be grown. The history of the Florodora 
20127°— 14 2 
