20 BULLETIN 60, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
rials, and a regular supply must be maintained or the whole indus- 
trial and commercial structure falls. It may be too much to ask 
manufacturers to imderstand the agricultural factors of production, 
but at least th? commercial factors might receive their attention, in 
view of the important differences between cotton and other crops. 
Unless the buyer represents the manufacturer to the extent of dis- 
criminating in favor of the fiber that the manufacturer wants, the 
farmer will also fail to discriminate: that is, he will neglect the pre- 
cautions that are necessary to produce longer and more uniform 
fiber. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
The production of cotton of superior quality in the United States 
is influenced by methods of buying, as well as by the prices paid for 
the crop. Failure to use proper discrimination in buying encourages 
careless or dishonest mixing of varieties on the farm or at the gin and 
leads to deterioration and loss of uniformity, so that the market 
value of the product is soon destroyed. Long-staple cotton of 
superior quality could be grown to great advantage in many parts 
of the American cotton belt if the necessary care were taken to 
preserve the purity and iiniformity of varieties. The natural condi- 
tions are favorable for the production of such cotton, and almost 
unlimited supplies could be grown if precautions against contamina- 
tion and degeneration were observed. 
Manufacturers have complained for many years that supplies of 
long-staple cotton were inadequate and uncertain, and the boll-weevil 
invasion has been supposed to jeopardize the very existence of the 
long-staple industry. But these dangers no longer threaten. New 
early-maturing varieties of long-staple cotton have been developed: 
also improved cultural methods that make it possible to produce good 
crops of long-staple cotton in many parts of the United States 
despite the presence of the boll weevil. The problem now is to 
induce the farmers to take the precautions that are necessary to 
maintain the uniformity of varieties, and the manufacturers who use 
the long-staple cottons have the key to this problem. 
The prices that have ruled for the last few years have been high 
enough to stimulate the production of long-staple cotton, but the 
methods of buying have been too indiscriminate to lead the farmer 
to understand the necessity of maintaining the purity and uniformity 
of varieties. Little of permanent benefit can come from the develop- 
ment of superior varieties by the Department of Agriculture if the 
farmer is not led to appreciate the necessity of preserving such 
varieties after they are placed in his hands. As long as the buyers 
take inferior mixed fiber and pay as much for it as for the best and 
most uniform, the farmer can not be expected to observe the pre- 
cautions that are necessary to maintain the purity and uniformity 
