The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-15

O0ve the See0 or tne F""e
 At this date of writing, ooc.Doee re growing out of the bolls. lhe promise Of clearing weather will. it is hopeo, bring enough sunshine to XII tnese sprouted seed and to check iurtneI rottins of fiber But whatever tne weather after this date 'octooer D: the fact remains that arse part o, Inc seed cotton now in the helo vii rct .fyord seed fit to plant. It is to he hoped that the low price Tor seeo o6ered by the oil mills to date-a price altogether out of harmony "ith the high price asked for. meal anu ,he rood price commanded by cotton o.i- mas caused most farmers 10 hoia lo the seed obtained from ginning uons in September. They will need tnese sa.a to nlan next years crop or to sell to their less provident neighpors and tenants for the same purpose. A few years ago defective germinatlon of cotton seed with consequent Pooi stands and late replanting, was laTSe- ly responsible for poor crop ,
 poor seed was the result oi sei,ine inc early sound seed, saving the iate seed. which proved to be defective. Let us take the lesson and If neces- = sary even buy back soind seed GU once, If already sold. J. F. D' The Storm and Rains as Affecting the
 Price of Cotton.
 In market reports about week af- ter the recent storm there was n"- table tendency to underestimate tue damage to the cotton crop by this un- usual visitation some parties estimat- inr that the actual loss would amount to only 10000 bales. How any one who has been in the fields and noted the direct loss of cotton cn the ground and the greater loss of sprouting cot ton in the bolls can suggest such a low figure. is beyond my comprehen sion. Even If we assume that only three important States were m the hath of the storm, would have in this area a normal production ofabout l,5o0,o00 bales. It cannot bo far wrong to estimate half of this as open in the field when the storm be- gan. for picking began late and has proceeded slowly. and there is very little later or top crop yet to open.
 It is a low estimate. in my opinion. to assume that twenty-five per cent. of the open cotton was destroyed, which figure on half .,icked crop in the three States suffered most heavily would mean the destruction of about half a million bales. To this must be added the smaller losses in other States where the fury of the 
 heavy and repeated rains did their usual damage to open cotton. Is it extravagant to estimate that the total complete loss throughout the cotton belt will approximate three quarters ot . million bales. and that an addi- tional two million bales is seriously injured in quality?
 purport to be merely guesses-are near the correct figures or otherwise the fact remains that the prospective crop, never approaching bumper crop, has been most severely curtail- ed. This gives every ground for be- lievinR that the natural action of the law of supply and demand will carry the price of the better grades of cot ton, which will be relatively scarce, above the ten cent price rxed by the Southern Cotton Association. Those who have stood by this Association in holding for ten cents will doubtless reap their reward very soon. If the meetings of the representatives of the Southern Cotton Association and of the Farmers Union at which prices were set. had occurred. subsequent to the storm and the week or more of rain, it Is probable that the price would have been placed higher, pos sibly at twelve cents.
 While cotton has been marketed slowly in September, lSUo, enouBr has been sold at about nine cents per pound to show plainly that there is need for most thoughtful and persis- tent efforts to provide some plan for taking care of the distress cottonfi The simplest plan. not free from short comings, is the one favored by the writer at the New Orleans Cotton Convention, namely, the adoption or recommendation by the southern Cot ton Association of a sliding scale of prices. the minimum price for Sep tember being placed but fraction above the estimated actual or sup pIy-and- demand price for that month The October price would he higher perhaps, by one cent and all later months still higher.
 To such a sliding scale larger