ACALA COTTON IN CALIFORNIA 6 
Valley being in 1909, and in 1910 five gins were put up there. This 
was the same year that the first gin was erected in the Coachella 
Valley. Commercial production of cotton did not begin in the 
Yuma Valley, however, until 1911, when about 30 acres were grown. 
In the Coachella Valley considerable cotton enthusiasm developed 
as a result of the 1909 plantings, and a carload of Rowden seed was 
ordered from Texas for planting in 1910. Some ' Mebane seed was 
also brought in from Texas at this time. These seed importations 
were fumigated at Thermal, Calif. In July a 2-stand, 70-saw gin 
was erected at Arabia, and, though no definite figures regarding 
production are available, it is probable that several hundred or even 
a thousand bales were ginned. 
Though the industry continued to develop very rapidly in the 
Imperial Valley, little cotton was grown in the Coachella Valley 
after the 1910 plantings, on account of the rather low price and local 
difficulties in marketing the 1910 crop. 
From 1910 to 1914 scattered fields, probably to the extent of sev- 
eral hundred acres, of ratoon and planted cotton were grown in the 
Coachella Valley. In 1915 no cotton was planted in the valley, as a 
result of the low prices of 1914, although a few ratoon fields may 
have been harvested. During this period varieties of the Texas 
big-boll type were grown, and an attempt was made to grow 
Egyptian cotton about 1913. In ginning Egyptian cotton, how- 
ever, a roller gin is necessary in order to prevent injury to the fibers. 
Since there was no roller gin in the Coachella Valley the Egyptian 
seed cotton had to be shipped to the Imperial Valley for ginning, 
which prevented this variety from getting much of a hold in the 
Coachella Valley. 
SECOND PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION 
With the rise in cotton prices in 1917 and 1918, interest in cotton 
was again aroused in the Coachella Valley, as in the other irrigated 
districts of the Southwest. In 1918, 124 bales were ginned at the 
Arabia gin, and in 1919 production increased to 624 bales. Rowden 
was not planted during this period but was replaced by Mebane, 
another variety of the Texas big-boll type. 
In 1918 most of the cotton in the Coachella Valley consisted of 
the Mebane variety, although a little Durango, a long-staple upland 
variety introduced from Mexico and bred by the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture, was planted. Durango, however, became 
very popular in the valley in 1919 and 1920, as it did also in other 
parts of the Southwest, and the acreage planted to Durango in the 
Coachella Valley probably equaled or exceeded the Mebane acreage. 
In 1920 the cotton acreage in the Coachella Valley was materially 
increased on account of the high prices prevailing at planting time. 
The 1920 production was 2,435 bales as compared with only 624 
bales from the 1919 crop. During 1920 another attempt was made 
to grow Egyptian cotton in the valley, this time planting Pima, a 
new variety of Egyptian Bred in Arizona by the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture. Only a few hundred acres of Pima were 
grown, and as in previous years the seed cotton had to be shipped 
to the Imperial Valley for ginning. Only a small percentage of 
