Imperial Valley press., 1910-09-17
Gold Medal and Special Prize Awarded to the Imperial
 County Exhibit
Picking of Early Cotton Progressing, and Busy Season Will Open Next Month. Condition of Fields lndi- l. cates Crop of Eight to Ten Thou sand Bales.

Some cotton is being picked in Im- perial Valley enough to keep the gin at Fl Centro busy part of every day, but the picking will not be in full swing until next month. This years experience indicates that early plant ing is advisable. Cotton planted early in April can be picked in August, and August cotton usually brings the best price. The price in the New York ] market was up to twenty cents few days ago, but this week the bears hammered it down below fourteen Possibly the Imperial growers may get from fourteen to fifteen cents when their crop is ready to market.
 Undoubtedly some of the best fields in the valley will make a bale and a half of cotton to the acre, and few may even exceed that, but there are many fields showing poor stands, due to ineXperience of the planters, to at tempts to handle more acres than could be properly cultivated and to wrong methods of irrigation, and the average probably will be less than d bale to the acre. One planter for | instance, put in large acreage and insisted that it should be irrigated like alfalfa. He flooded his cotton instead of running the water in furrows. and killed considerable proportion of the plants He will not get record crop 1 this year, but he will know how to grow cotton next year.
 Seed was put in the ground on more than 15,000 acres this year, but at least twenty-five per cent of the planting failed to make fair stand, in the opinion of those who have in- spected the fields thoroughly, and probably about I2,000 acres will be picked, including fields in which the stand is scattering. The ginners have provided sacking and ties for 10000 bales, and they are no pessimists at that. If the actual product amounts to 5000 bales, the valley will be doing pretty well with crop that is an experiment to most of the planters. The average obtained by dividing the maximum seeded acreage by the mum Der of bales ginned Is of no signif- canoe at this stage of the industry | What the painstaking, efficient com petent planter produces is the measure of the adaptability of the Imperial Valley soil and climate to cotton culture.
 Imperial Valley cotton was the most attractive and important exhibit at the State Fair in Sacramento this year. That is what managers pro- claimed when they awarded the gold medal for the most attractive display to Imperial County for the cotton ex- hibit installed and maintained by the commercial organizations of El Centro They also awarded to Imperial County a cash prize of $50. for the best special display, and first prizes for growing and ginned cotton. Some small ex- hibits of cotton from San Joaquin valley were installed, but they were withdrawn when the Imperial County exhibit arrived.
 Secretary C. w. Collins, of the Fl Centro Chamber of Commerce had charge of the exhibit, and he reports that 1t attracted more serious atten- tion than anything else at the fair. A steady stream of visitors passed through the booth every day, and he distributed 5000 cotton bolls and a vast amount of information. At least 5,OOO persons asked questions each day about Imperial Valley, and the booth proved to be one of the best advertisements of the valley ever sent out,
 All the money used, and 1t was a small amount, came out of the pockets of a few men of El Centro and the cotton was supplied free of cost by Ira Aten, the real father of the cotton industry in Imperial Valley; Fred Full Ter, II. R. Hoard, the J. R. Loftus com pany and other planters. The County Supervisors were asked to help witt an appropriation of $lOO, and paid nc attention to the request At the sam,