THE RELATION OF COTTON BUYING TO COTTON GROWING. 19 
as the yield. The crop is reduced by the shedding of floral buds and 
young bolls. Bolls that are farther advanced are not so likely to be 
shed, but they often fail to reach normal maturity and produce weak, 
inferior fiber. Thus, long and short fiber or strong and weak fiber are 
often to be found on the same plant. 
Some varieties have a tendency to inequality in the length of lint, 
the fiber at the base of the seed often being much shorter than that 
at the top. This difference of length sometimes amounts to half an 
inch or even more, giving the so-called "butterfly" outline, when the 
fiber is combed out from the sides of the seed. This factor of ine- 
quality may be avoided by choosing varieties that do not have the 
undesirable butterfly tendency. The new Durango type of long- 
staple cotton is unusually free from this defect. 
There are other factors of inequality in addition to the mixing 
of varieties or the failure to continue selection. A farmer who has 
planted pure seed may still have only inferior cotton if his soil is 
poor or his methods careless, either in raising or picking the crop, 
or if the fiber is damaged by rain during the harvest season. The 
condition of the cotton must be taken into account apart from the 
quality. Good cotton may be in bad condition, but poor cotton 
can not be made good by careful handling at the end of the season. 
The farmer who plants mixed seed can not produce imiform fiber, 
no matter how favorable the conditions or how careful the methods 
in other respects. Quality is best determined by field inspection, 
for any form of inequality can be, detected in the field much more 
easily than in the bale. 
ECONOMIC PECULIARITIES OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY. 
Cotton differs from many other crops in that it can not be used on 
the farm or by retail consumers in the neighboring town. There is 
no possibility of the cotton grower dealing directly with an individual 
consumer of cotton, unless he should return to the manufacture 
of his own cloth, as in colonial times. The modern industry is organ- 
ized on the basis of assembling a large quantity of fiber to supply a 
vast manufacturing establishment. As economy of production 
depends on this concentration of supplies, we may say that raw 
cotton has only a wholesale market. The retail market is not 
reached until' the manufactured goods are distributed. Thus, the 
cotton crop is peculiarly dependent on its commercial environment, 
because the farmer has no alternative but to sell to the manufacturer 
or his representative, the cotton buyer. This absence of ordinary 
retail competition may be considered as a reason for the persistent 
demand for special legislation to control the marketing of cotton. 
The economy and efficiency of the present system of concentration 
of manufacturing processes depends on the supply of suitable mate- 
