EXTENSION OF COTTON PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA. 7 
established and well organized on the basis of other crops. Farmers 
who are familiar with the local cpnditions and have only to learn 
the requirements of the new crop are likely to make better progress 
than those who have everything to learn, as in communities formed 
of new settlers, some of them with no agricultural experience and 
others persisting in the use of methods to which they have been ac- 
customed in other regions, but which are not adapted to the special 
conditions and requirements of the irrigated districts. 
NATURAL CONDITIONS FAVORABLE. 
That natural conditions of soil and climate very favorable for 
cotton culture are to be found in the interior valleys of California 
has been shown again in recent years by the behavior of series of 
different kinds of cotton that have been grown and studied at several 
points representing the general range of climatic conditions — Red 
Bluff, Chico, Marysville, Davis, Stockton, Dos Palos, Visalia, Exeter, 
Semitropic, and Bakersfield. 
The general result of these experimental plantings has been to 
leave no doubt that cotton is able to make normal growth and mature 
good crops in the warmer districts of the interior valleys ; that is, in 
the northern part of the Sacramento Valley and the southern part of 
the San Joaquin Valley. The most successful plantings have been 
those at Bakersfield and Semitropic in Kern County, and at Dos 
Palos in Merced County, where the plants were extremely well 
grown and productive, with bolls of very large size and lint of ex- 
cellent quality, results that are obtained only under conditions 
thoroughly favorable for the development of the plants. 
Much more extensive experiments would be necessary to determine 
how far cotton culture might be carried toward the cooler climate of 
the Bay districts in the central part of the State by using early short- 
season varieties or selecting for adaptation to the local conditions, 
but no special difficulties seem likely to be encountered in the warmer 
parts of the valleys. The cotton plant is able to thrive on a great 
variety of soils, a moderate but regular supply of moisture being the 
chief requirement. While the plants are able to survive drought, the 
crop is likely to be injured by any extreme condition that checks or 
forces the growth of the plants. 
It has to be expected that any undertakings with a new crop, 
wherever the beginnings may be made, must pass through an experi- 
mental period, in order to test fully the possibilities of the soil and 
local climatic conditions and determine the methods that can be ap- 
plied to the greatest advantage. The most that can be said at present 
is that practical experiments with cotton are likely to be justified in 
any of the warmer districts where soils of reasonable fertility and 
adequate supplies of water are available. 
