18 BULLETIN 60, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
direct buying from the farmer or in placing orders with buyers who 
would, in turn, find it to their interest to know in advance the possi- 
bility of supplying the needs of their more discriminating customers. 
The same amount of skill that is now used in classifying cotton in 
the bale could be applied much more effectively in the field, and with 
enormous advantage to agriculture in assuring the farmer a return 
for the special care required to produce superior fiber. The chief 
obstacle to the adoption of such methods of buying on a basis of field 
inspection is that neither the manufacturers nor the buyers have, at 
present, any familiarity with cotton in the field, either with the 
plants as they grow or with the fiber as it comes from the b3lls. A 
certain amount of time is required to become familiar with the plant 
and lint characters, as they have to be judged in the field, but any- 
body who is able to make the fine discriminations necessary in class- 
ing cotton in the bale would have no serious difficulty in learning to 
distinguish the different kinds of plants in a mixed field or in recog- 
nizing differences in the lint while still on the seeds. Indeed, the 
recognition of such differences is really much easier than the classi- 
fication of cotton in the bale, because the differences are greater and 
more obvious, and because it is seldom necessary to depend upon one 
character alone. Varieties differ, usually, by many characters, and 
even in the same variety several characters are likely to be changed 
under a different set of external conditions. If the lint is shortened 
by adverse conditions, the bolls and leaves are likely to be smaller 
and the whole aspect of the plants will be different. Sufficient 
familiarity with the characters and behavior of a variety enables one 
to tell in advance with considerable confidence the length and strength 
of the lint before taking it in hand, or even before the bolls have 
opened. 
OTHER CAUSES OF UNEVEN FIBER. 
It is true that mixing varieties and diversity among the plants in 
the field are not the only causes ^of inequality in the length and 
strength of cotton fiber. Unless the conditions of growth are favor- 
able, even the best variety may yield only inferior cotton. Adverse 
conditions during a part of the crop season may render the fiber 
uneven, notwithstanding the care that may have been taken to keep 
the stock pure. As a result of differences in the soil, one part of a 
field may grow good fiber while another part of the same field may 
yield only inferior fiber. When one side of a field is allowed to grow 
up in weeds, an adverse effect on the fiber is often apparent. Inequal- 
ities of soil or moisture supply are often shown in a striking manner 
in the growth of the plants. 
Any sudden change of conditions of growth, such as checking the 
plants by drought or forcing them into very rapid development by 
heat and moisture, is likely to affect the quality of the fiber as well 
