ONE-VARIETY COTTON COMMUNITIES. 37 
to the conditions of the irrigated valleys than any of the long- 
staple Upland or Sea Island varieties that are raised in the eastern 
Cotton Belt and that, on the other hand, there is no prospect of 
establishing the Pima cotton in Texas or farther east, on account 
of its susceptibility to the black-arm disease and to weevil injury. 
Undoubtedly it was much easier to establish the Pima cotton and 
increase the stocks of pure seed in a new community where there 
were no other varieties of cotton. Also the need of cooperation un- 
doubtedly was more readily appreciated in the irrigated valleys, 
where people are accustomed to combined action in relation to se- 
curing water, building irrigation works, digging drainage canals, 
and other agricultural undertakings. Nevertheless, the agreement 
of the community to plant only one kind of cotton is a matter quite 
apart from other cooperative undertakings and very easily ac- 
complished when the advantages are sufficiently understood. 
On the other hand, there were special difficulties to face in the 
Salt River Valley in the marketing of a new variety of cotton, not 
grown anywhere else and somewhat different from the imported 
Egyptian cotton. After the markets were once secured the Pima 
cotton industry made very rapid progress and began to attract 
the attention of other cotton-growing regions. A rapid extension 
was possible because larger supplies of pure seed w T ere available 
than of any other variety. Adherence of the entire community to 
the one variety of cotton made it possible to keep the seed pure and 
to raise much larger quantities of uniform high-quality fiber than 
could be grown in mixed- variety communities. 
The seed supply of the Salt River Valley is maintained by the 
original organization of growers of Egyptian cotton in the district 
around Tempe, with the assistance of the Bureau of Plant Indus- 
try in selecting the basic stock and roguing the increase fields. The 
seed that is to be used for planting is raised in special districts that 
have been planted with rogued seed of the previous year. The ex- 
change conducts a gin which is devoted exclusively to the cotton 
that furnishes the seed for planting. All of the standard-quality 
seed has been handled through this organization, the Tempe Cotton 
Exchange, and furnished to the farmers each year at the price of 
oil-mill seed plus the cost of delinting, sacking, storage, and in- 
surance. On account of very high prices for sacks and other in- 
cidentals, as well as for the labor of handling the seed under the 
necessary precautions, the various items of expense amounted in 
1919 to $17.44 per ton in addition to the oil-mill price of seed, which 
stood at $65 during the war period. There was not enough first- 
quality seed for planting the very large acreage of 1920, and other 
seed was used in some outlying districts. 
