Imperial Valley press., 1909-10-30
IMPERIAL GIFT
 ID CALIFORNIA
Valleys First Cotton Crop Declared to Be of IneStim-
 able Importance
lsan Diego rnionl

ut pSOplt Ol Nut lllptl lci NdlSS are to be congratulated upon an achievement that is as rare as it is gratifying. They have given Califor- mia a new industry and one, too, that promises to add substantially to the future wealth of the State They have begun to grow cotton on a commercial scale, and of very high grade. More over. the yield per acre, from bale to a bale and half, is exceptionally large or would be considered so in the cotton states of the south, where a bale to the acre is generally deem- ed a generops crop, and where few, if any. large plantations will average so much. It appears, too, that the beginning of cotton-raising that has now been made in the Imperial coun- try, is substantial one, about 1900 acres having been planted this year and producing crop of probably about 2000 bales.
 The good fortune that has gener- ally smiled upon the Imperial people seems to continue with them in their new venture. Their first cotton goes to market at a time of shortage in the supply, and of consequent high prices. Cotton for October delivery has been quoted during the past few days in New Orleans and New York at over 13 cents per pound which is 4 or cents more than the quotations for the similar period in October of last year. It is predicted that prices will go higher, because of the short age. Henry s. Reed, editor of the Atlanta Cotton Journal, says in a con- munication to the New York Con- mercial:
 Our crop this season will run around the eleven million bales mark, and the price per pound will be very high before the end of the cotton year. The spinners demand from us thirteen and a half million bales to keep things running smoothly; hence, if the sup ply falls short and our people do not hasten in glutting the market and the buyer is permitted to name the price, there may be falling from the pres ent quotations between now and Christmas. Before the cotton year closes, cotton will go higher than it did during the "Sully year."
 The crop will be without doubt some two million bales short of that pro- duced last year. You will observe that we are not splitting hairs over the final ginning, because no one at this time can do more than guess the size of the crop and but few, if any, of the recognized cotton statisticians are willing to take the chance of writing themselves as reckless by guessing so early in the season. The price, meas ured by ordinary years in the past, is good, and before the close of the cot ton year it will be considerably high CT
 From the foregoing it appears that the Imperial people have launched their latest enterprise at the right time to get the best results from it. There seems reason to believe, too, that the quality of their cotton will insure ex- ceptionally high prices for it. Pre- sumably the success of this years crop, which now appears to be fully assured, will result in a very much larger acreage planted to cotton in 1910. It will be hoped that this will be the outcome. California needs every new industry that may be con- ducted profitably' It needs, too, more industries whose product is non-per- ishable-does not have to face the al- ternatives of decaying or being dump ed upon the market, without regard to glutting and low prices. In this re- spect the Imperial cotton planter will be far more independent than the grower of fruits.
 The growth of this new industry will be followed with the more inter- est because it's expansion will mean that which is especially needed in Southern California--a great staple that can be manufactured here, or shipped as cargo from this port, or used in both ways For by the time the cotton growing industry at Im- perial shall have attained a great out put the direct railway between the valley and this city will have been completed and in operation. The Im- perial cotton fields will thus have a short, easy route to tidewater-a con- dition that will mutually benefit the