10 BULLETIN 457, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
mature early, and that this early maturing may have resulted 
in a higher grade. However, during the first few months of the 
cotton season of 1913-14 the precipitation was unusually heavy, in 
some instances amounting to twice the normal. Presumably this 
was the reason that the cotton of $-inch staple was lowest in grade, 
running 32 points off Middling, while all of the staples from +% of an 
inch and longer ran a few points on Middling in value. These figures 
indicate that a large portion of the cotton crop is sold on averages, 
neither grade nor staple receiving proper consideration in many 
short-staple sections. 
It generally is admitted that the majority of the buyers operating 
in sections which produce short-staple cotton have only a very limited 
knowledge of the various lengths of staple, as they have had prac- 
tically no technical experience in stapling or “pulling” cotton. This 
is probably the principal reason why the present price conditions 
exist, but whatever the underlying cause, it can not be denied that 
under such a system of marketing the producer of better staple is 
not receiving a fair and just return for his product. It is manifestly 
unfair to the farmer who is producing a superior staple to have his 
cotton purchased at a price figured on the average cotton of a com- 
munity, for naturally the average is low enough to protect the buyer 
from any possible loss. Under this system of marketing, it is often 
profitable for the producer to confine his efforts to the growing of the 
shorter lengths, for as a rule there is a correlation between length of 
staple and percentage of lint—usually the shorter the length of staple 
the higher the percentage of lint; therefore, at the same price per 
pound, the producer of the shorter staple would receive greater 
returns. Subsequent to this investigation campaigns have been 
conducted in many parts of the Cotton Belt with a view to teaching the | 
producer the value of growing better staple and the need of greater 
care in handling his product, and the Office of Markets and Rural 
Organization has had frequent indications that those who are growing 
better staple are demanding and are often receiving the premiums 
to which their staple entitles them. 
MARKETING TINGED AND STAINED COTTON. 
The rainfall during the months of September and October, 1913, 
in the Cotton Belt was unusually heavy, in some sections amounting 
to twice the normal. This unusual precipitation, at a time when the 
cotton had matured, resulted in a large quantity of tinged and stained 
cotton; about 25 per cent of the 38,000 samples collected could not 
be classed on the permissive white grades. A study of the prices 
received for colored cotton shows ranges out of proportion to the 
values involved. While it is probably true that the buyer purchases 
a great deal of this cotton at a time when it is difficult to find a market 
ee ee el 
