42 
do not refuse to grow, but usually the crops are small, the bolls not 
well opened, and the fiber weak. That the different varieties and 
types of cotton are thus limited to the conditions of particular regions 
is another reason why local centers of seed supply need to be devel- 
oped and maintained. 
DURANGO COTTON COMMUNITIES. 
Communities in several States are now specializing on the pro- 
duction of Durango cotton, and some of them are planting this 
variety alone. Although very good results were obtained with 
Durango cotton in Texas, around Waco and Clarksville, several 
years ago, the growers did not keep their seed separate or maintain 
the variety in cultivation. The first extensive plantings, about 6,000 
acres, were made in the Imperial Valley in southern California 
in 1913, and organized efforts for community production were con- 
tinued for several years, but without establishing a one-variety 
condition or maintaining the seed supplies. 8 
One of the principal difficulties encountered in the Imperial Valley 
was that the Durango, like other long-staple Upland varieties of 
cotton, was injured seriously by water shortage and resulting con- 
ditions of drought. Though the short-staple varieties suffer also 
from drought, the prices are not so seriously affected as with 
the longer staples, that are bought with some discrimination of 
quality. With no adequate provision for maintaining pure seed, 
the Imperial Valley stocks of Durango deteriorated rapidly, al- 
though rather large acreages continued to be planted, and com- 
mercial stocks of seed were sent to the Yuma, Palo Verde, Coachella, 
and San Joaquin Valleys, but in all those cases on a basis of mixed- 
variety plantings that did not make it practicable to keep the seed 
pure. A stock of Durango seed, somewhat mixed with short staple, 
was sold in the Yuma Valley in 1919 as " Rowden." notwithstanding 
the fact that this name belongs to an entirely different Texas big- 
boll variety not grown in Arizona or California. In 1920 "Long- 
Staple Improved Rowden " was brought to northern Texas and 
advertised as a valuable novelty from California. 
The most recent addition to the California cotton areas is the 
Perris Valley, south of Riverside, where Durango cotton is being 
planted exclusively and the growers have a rather compact organiza- 
tion, with a community gin. Stocks of pure seed have' been secured 
and are now being increased under conditions of isolation and sepa- 
rate ginning to replace the mixed lots that unfortunately were ob- 
tained in 1919, the first year of extensive planting. It is significant 
s See McLachlan, Argyle. Community production of Durango cotton in the Imperial 
Valley. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 324, 16 p. 1915. 
