4 BULLETIN, 1467, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 
the Pima acreage gave satisfactory results, which fact, added to the 
ginning difficulties and the unsatisfactory price which later de- 
veloped, resulted in these being the last Pima plantings made in 
the Coachella Valley. 
During the summer of 1920 a new 4-stand gin was erected in the 
valley at the town of Coachella, and the old gin at Arabia was 
moved to Thermal. The company controlling the Arabia gin moved 
it, because they considered Thermal more centrally situated in regard 
to the cotton "acreage in the valley. 
FIRST ACALA PLANTING IN THE COACHELLA VALLEY 
The first Acala cotton grown in the Coachella Valley was planted 
in 1920 by the Department of Agriculture. Two small fields a few 
rods apart were planted March 27 at the United States Experiment 
Date Garden near Indio. The plantings were made to determine 
the general behavior and commercial possibilities of the Acala 
variety under the extreme conditions obtaining in the valley. A brief 
history of Acala and of the seed stock used in making this planting 
follows. 
Acala is an upland variety developed from imported seed. The 
original stock was obtained in December, 1906, by G. X. Collins 
and C. B. Doyle, of the Department of Agriculture, at Acala, in 
the State of Chiapas, southern Mexico, as the result of an expedi- 
tion sent out for this purpose, the existence of a native big-boll 
type of cotton in southern Mexico having been discovered during a 
previous expedition conducted by O. F. Cook. The preliminary 
work of acclimatizing and selecting desirable strains from the Acala 
stock was carried on chiefly in southern Texas between 1907 and 
1911. After being placed on a field basis, Acala attracted very 
favorable attention in Oklahoma and Texas, and the acreage in- 
creased rapidly. 
In 1917 several of the more promising upland varieties, including 
Acala and Pima Egyptian, were tested in the San Joaquin Valley 
of California by the Department of Agriculture. These tests indi- 
cated that both Acala and Pima were well adapted to the San 
Joaquin Valley conditions. At that time Pima was bringing a very 
good price, and this variety was recommended for general planting 
in the San Joaquin Valley. 
In 1918 about 3,000 acres of cotton were grown in the San Joaquin 
Valley. This acreage consisted principally of Egyptian, though 
some upland cotton was grown. In 1919, however, the greater part 
of the San Joaquin Valley acreage was of the upland type. On 
account of the unsettled condition of the variety question and the 
desirability of obtaining a nucleus for future seed supply in case 
upland varieties should be planted exclusively, the Department of 
Agriculture, in February, 1919, sent 10 bushels of Acala seed grown 
in northern Texas to W. B. Camp, the department representative in 
the San Joaquin Valley. 
Mr. Camp placed the seed with a cooperator in the Arvin-Weed 
Patch district, where it was well isolated, and a field of about 8 
acres was grown. This field was rogued during the summer by 
