Imperial Valley press., 1909-08-07
COTTON
 Is GROWING FINELY Experimental Plantations h. spected by Experts From
 Yuma Station.
Los Angeles Capitalists keenIy Inter- ested in Imperial Valleys New ln- dustry-cotton First Grown on Des- ert Twenty Five Years Ago.

An inspection of the Egyptian cot ton plantations in Imperial Valley Peterson and T. H. Kearney, who have charge of the station maintained at Yuma by the Bureau of Plant Indus tries of the Agricultural Department.
 Small areas were planted by F. C.. Ravens, w. E. Wilsie, E. E. For rester, MT. Stanley at Brawley, and the Yuma station. The total area in Egyptian cotton is something less than ten acres, and the planting is purely experimental, although the seed is be- lieved to have been acclimated at Yuma.
 The government officers went through the fields especially to detect and remove hybrid stocks, and they found a few in some of the patches. Generally the plants were in splendid condition, promising satisfactory re- suits of the experiment. of growing Egyptian cotton in this region.
 It is the desire of the Bureau to induce the planters in this valley to grow only the Egyptian variety of cotton as the Colorado desert region is the only part of the United States in which that variety can be grown successfully and it is worth twice as much per pound as upland cotton. If Egyptian and other cottons are grown in the same region they will hy bridize.
 Most of the upland cotton fields are in first rate condition, and if the planters hit the right system of irri- gating there will be a good crop of cotton this year. It looks now as if the product would amount to nearly thousand bales, making reasonable allowance for the failures of ineXper- fenced planters. Even five hundred bales would be a highly successful outcome of the experiment. The eX- act acreage has not been computed, but from the data available it is safe l to estimate that between 1000 and l 300 acres were seeded. Where the Los Angeles papers got their stories of 5000 acres of Egyptian cotton in Imperial valley can only be guessed.
 The first step toward the establish ment of cotton growing as perman- ent industry in Imperial Valley is be- ing watched with keen interest by men of affairs in Los Angeles. When they meet an El Centro man, they interview him about cotton and want all the details. party of half doz- en big bankers in Los Angeles caught an El Centro man early this week and made him talk cotton until he was splitting lint. They said arLer relieving the aridity of their victim: "You peo- pie show us five hundred bales of cot ton this year, and we will show you a cotton mill in Los Angeles just as soon as one can be built We will manufacture cotton goods for the Oriental market and ship then from San Pedro"
 It is known to or remembered by but few persons that the suitability of this region to cotton growing was demonstrated nearly a quarter of a century ago. The pioneer cotton planter of the Desert of the Colorado was Mrs. Martin Marsh, wife of the Los Angeles contractor and politician Martin Marsh kept the hotel at In dio in 1885, and Mrs. Marsh planted all sorts of things in the back yard She found some queer seeds in q freight car and planted them to find out what they were, and the result