6 BULLETIN 533, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
a published newspaper article an ill-advised planting of over 500 
acres of Sea Island cotton in Colusa County was mentioned. The cot- 
ton had only begun to bloom in October when the crop should have 
been ripe : yet a few Upland plants that grew in the same field had 
fruited abundantly. The best results were claimed for Upland short 
staples from Tennessee and Georgia, but an Upland long-staple va- 
riety called " Petit Gulf," from Louisiana, is said to have done well 
in several places. 
Cotton was urged by Hilgarcl as a better crop than wheat for many 
of the lands of the central valleys, on the ground of being less likely 
to lead to exhaustion of the soil, as less likely to lead to harmful con- 
centration of alkali in the surface layers of the soil on account of 
being a tillage crop, and as needing less water for irrigation purposes 
than other crops that had been proposed as substitutes for wheat. 
The point was made that cotton could be exported while alfalfa could 
not, and that the California grower would have a great advantage 
over his southern competitor in not having to " fight the grass." 
It is evident throughout Hilgard's report that he looked upon cot- 
ton as one of the California industries that were sure to develop, and 
this idea finds very definite expression in the statement that closes his 
general discussion: 
Keeping all these points in view, the writer can not but think that the wider 
introduction of cotton culture into California is but a question of time, and that 
in many respects it will serve to improve the agricultural prosperity of the 
State. 
EXTENT OF POSSIBLE COTTON TERRITORY IN CALIFORNIA. 
Of new territory readily available for cotton in the United States, 
California probably has the largest areas. Kecent demonstrations of 
cotton possibilities have been afforded by the beginnings that Jiave 
been made in the Imperial Valley and the Colorado Valley in extreme 
southern California, but the San Joaquin and other more northern 
valleys contain much larger areas of irrigated or readily irrigable 
land that might be used for cotton. Hilgard estimated that one-third 
of the agricultural land of the State lay in the central valleys, with 
an area of more than 17,000 square miles. While only a part of this 
territory is suited to cotton, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that 
the central valleys might produce about 10 times as much cotton as 
the Imperial Valley. 
It is to be expected that much of the cotton will be grown on the 
level lands in the open valley where fruits and other tender crops are 
excluded by low winter temperatures, but places may also be found 
for cotton as an additional crop in communities that are now devoted 
to fruit growing or other industries. Indeed, the best results are 
likely to be secured, at least at first, in communities that are already 
