6 BULLETIN 476, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
if buyers will use proper discrimination in the prices paid for dif- 
ferent lengths of staple. Production to meet the requirements of 
State consumption might enable the mills to secure their supplies 
more economically through the reduction of freight and other 
charges, which condition might result in turn in higher prices being 
paid locally for cotton. 
RELATIVE MERITS OF CERTAIN PRIMARY MARKETS IN NORTH 
CAROLINA. 
COMPARISON OF PRIMARY MARKETS IN THE COASTAL PLAIN SECTION. 
An effort was made to ascertain the relative importance of certain 
primary markets in the Coastal Plain section. In order to make the 
comparison as accurate as possible a record was made of prices re- 
ceived for unclassed cotton of the same grades on the same dates in 
any two of the markets. The resulting averages shown in Table III 
indicate accurately the differences in prices which existed in any 
two markets. The prices received in Fayetteville, for instance, aver- 
aged 11.64 cents for cotton of the same grades sold on the same dates 
which brought 11.67 cents in Ahoskie. Again, the prices received 
for cotton of the same grades sold on the same dates in Fayetteville 
and Clinton averaged 11.98 cents and 11.92 cents, respectively. 
A study of this table shows that the average length of staple at a 
town has no apparent bearing upon its relative merit as a market. 
As an example, Ahoskie with an average length of staple of less than 
% of an inch paid an average of 27 points, or $1.35 per bale, more 
than Clinton with an average length of staple of 1 inch. 
Special attention is called to the statement for the town of New 
Berne in Table III and also in Table I. The fact that a superior 
staple is produced in that section evidently is not known to the pro- 
ducers and probably not to the local buyers, as the market averages 
low in price and no distinction is made between different lengths 
of staple. A study of the record slips showed that cotton only { of 
an inch in length of staple in every instance brought as much as cot- 
ton 14 and 1,3; inches in length of staple, when as a matter of fact 
the difference in value is from $10 to $15 a bale. 
From the standpoint of price the relative merits of these markets 
seemingly were: ist, Fayetteville; 2d, Ahoskie; 3d, Kinston; 4th, 
Jacksonville; 5th, Selma, 6th, Clinton; 7th, New Berne; 8th, Laurin- 
burg; 9th, Washington; 10th, Scotland Neck; and 11th, Red Springs. 
