10 BULLETIN 60. T. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGEICULTT'EE. 
cotton is likely to be repeated with the Columbia, for mixed stocks 
are being sold in Texas and elsewhere on an advertising basis, and a 
large amount of inferior fiber is likely to come into the market. 
Of course, there are some parts of the cotton belt, like the drier 
portions of Texas, where the conditions are not really favorable for 
the production of long-staple cotton. Only a few varieties and a 
few localities may be able to produce a staple equal to that of the 
Mississippi Delta region, but a large part of the cotton belt could 
produce excellent long staples if proper care were taken. Most of 
the former attempts at long-staple production failed, in all proba- 
bility, not because of agricultural difficulties but because the varie- 
ties were not kept uniform and because the buyers did not discrimi- 
nate between the good fiber that was worth a premium and the 
mixed stocks of long and short cotton that possibly had even less 
value than short cotton alone. If the mixed fiber had been rejected 
promptly, no more of it would have been grown and the production 
of uniform stocks would have continued and increased. Instead of 
using discrimination in time, the mixing is allowed to go on for two 
or three years until the stock has deteriorated and the crop has 
been refused by the manufacturer. Thus, the prospects of establish- 
ing a new center of long-staple production are seriously diminished. 
if not altogether destroyed. 
In some respects the best opportunities for developing new long- 
staple districts are in the irrigated regions of the Southwest. The 
natural conditions must be admitted to be extremely favorable, with 
such advantages as rich soil, control of water supply by irrigation, 
freedom from wet weather in the harvest season, and absence of the 
boll weevil. Moreover, in these newly settled communities it is 
easier to secure a general agreement on the planting of a single kind 
of cotton. In the Salt River Valley of central Arizona, where only 
Egyptian cotton is grown, the crop has increased from 33 bales in 
1911 to 2i;>2 bales in 1912, and about 3.000 bales are expected in the 
present season. In the Imperial Yalley of southern California there 
has been a still more rapid expansion of the Durango cotton from 
about 3 acres in 1911 to 200 acres in 1912 and to about 5,500 acres in 
1913. using all the seed of this variety that could be bought. If the 
present crop brings a fan price, the Durango variety is likely to be 
planted next year for the entire crop of the Imperial Valley, or to 
an extent of 20.000 to 30,000 acres. 
The danger that seems likely to interfere with the progress of such 
communities is that the buyers will continue to follow their usual 
policy of taking the entire crops at flat prices and thus encourage 
the farmers to neglect the precaution of keeping the varieties pure. 
It was not to be expected, perhaps, that the manufacturers who 
bought the small early crops to encourage the pioneer planters would 
