10 BULLETIN 1184, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
cerization tests of Pima and Sakellaridis yarns were conducted at 
different plants; also a comparison of Sakellaridis, Pima, and Sea 
Island yarns was made. In each case the yarns went through the 
same process. In one test the Sakellaridis yarns seemed to have a 
better luster than those of Pima cotton, while in the other four 
tests there was no difference. Several times the manufacturers 
selected Pima cotton as having the best luster. Pima yarns when 
mercerized are as lustrous as Sakellaridis or Sea Island yarns (,9, 
pp. 15-16). 
It will be noted that Pima cotton is being successfully manu- 
factured into fine yarns and fabrics. The interest in Pima fiber is 
steadily increasing in the manufacturing districts, and many manu- 
facturers predict a satisfactory outlet for the cotton. It has been 
thoroughly demonstrated that this cotton is very desirable in manu- 
facturing fine yarns, and this fact has been substantiated by many 
manufacturers who are using it. One manufacturer states: 
We, as manufacturers of as fine yarns as are made in this country, are 
seriously interested in the Pima cotton situation, and we hope that by Govern- 
ment assistance and the cooperation of the planters, shippers, and brokers 
results can be obtained that will make it possible to obtain cotton with extra- 
long staple ; but that cotton to be of any value to manufacturers of fine yarns 
must be, as previously stated, clean and smooth. 
There are many reports very favorable to the Pima cotton in- 
dustry. However, in this discussion more attention has been given 
to the more or less well-founded criticisms by the manufacturers 
of Pima, which show where improvement must be made if the in- 
dustry is to be a success. 
CONDITIONS CAUSING LACK OF UNIFORMITY. 
During a recent investigation in manufacturing centers made 
b}^ the writer it was found that the most serious objections to the 
introduction of Pima cotton were great variation in length and 
strength of staple in the same bale, high percentage of waste, and 
mixed packed bales. 
Some of the field conditions which are known to cause a lack of 
uniformity in the fiber are the presence of root-rot and other dis- 
eases, alkali spots, and imperfect leveling, the plants in the high 
spots suffering from drought and those in the low spots from over- 
watering. 
From his investigations in the Salt Eiver Valley of Arizona, C. J. 
King, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, states: 
Comparatively early frosts have been responsible for serious damage to the 
late crop of bolls. It has been estimated by some of the growers that the heavy 
frost of November 1, 1919, was responsible for destroying from 15 to 20 per cent 
of the bolls on about half of the cotton acreage in the Salt River Valley. No 
estimate \\;is made by the writer for the whole valley, but in several fields 
visited it appeared that from 30 to 40 per cent of the bolls had been destroyed 
U, P. 4-5). 
Certain growers, being desirous of harvesting the crop with as 
few pickings as possible, often have considerable good cotton open 
in the fields when the early frosts come, so before the superior cotton 
can be picked much of this frost-bitten crop opens and is gathered 
and ginned with the good cotton, which adds materially to the lack 
of uniformity in spinning qualities. 
