2 BULLETIN 946, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
cotton grown near Clarksville, Tex. Its chief cultural characteris- 
tics as compared with the Sea Island cotton are its earlier maturing 
bolls increased production of lint and seed, and its larger bolls and 
consequent greater ease of picking. 
The Meade cotton is a long-staple upland variety, producing 
under favorable conditions a fiber If inches long, of fine texture 
like the Sea Island. Because its seeds are nearly smooth it can be 
handled to advantage on common roller gins. There is little tend- 
ency to "butterfly"; that is, for the fibers to grow shorter at the 
base of the seed, which was one of the undesirable traits of the 
older long-staple upland varieties, such as Floradora, Sunflower, and 
Allen. So closely does the Meade fiber resemble Sea Island that 
the two can not be distinguished except by experts. It is said that 
Meade has been sold on the regular Sea Island market at Savannah 
at a premium over the mainland Sea Island. 
PURPOSE OF THE SPINNING TESTS. 1 
The United States Department of Agriculture, through the cotton- 
testing specialists of the Bureau of Markets, has conducted spinning 
tests on representative bales of Meade and Sea Island cotton grown 
during the seasons of 1916-17, 1918-19, and 1919-20 in order to de- 
termine the practical spinning value of the Meade cotton in com- 
parison with that of Sea Island. 
GRADE AND STAPLE OF COTTON. 
The grade of the cotton for the tests of 1916-17 and of 1918-19 
was practically equal. That of the season of 1919-20 was repre- 
sented by a mixture of Meade cotton grading No. 2 J, grown on sandy 
soil ; by another mixture of Meade cotton grading No. 3, grown on 
clay soil; and by a mixture of Sea Island cotton grading No. 1-J. 
The length of staple of the cotton tested was If inches for all three 
seasons, excepting the Meade produced on clay soil, wliich was 1 T 7 6 
inches in length of staple. The United States Official Cotton Stand- 
ards for Sea Island cotton were used as a basis of comparison for 
both growths on which the 1919-20 tests were made, but the earlier 
tests were made before the official standards for Sea Island had been 
established; hence, it can only be stated that the grade of cottons 
used the first two years was equal as between Meade and Sea Island 
and approximately equal to the grades used in the last test. 
1 The spinning tests of the Meade and Sea Island cottons herein described were con- 
ducted independently during three different years. The test on the crop of 1916—17 was 
made in 1917 at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, West 
Raleigh, N. C, by William S. Dean, formerly assistant in cotton testing ; the test on 
the crop of 1918-19 was made in 1919 at the New Bedford Textile School, New Bedford, 
Mass., by C. E. Killingsworth, formerly assistant in cotton testing ; and the tests of the 
crop of 1919-20 were made in 1920 at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture 
.and Engineering, West Raleigh, N. C, by William G. Blair, assistant in cotton testing. 
