The Parker post., 1911-11-18
COTTON possibilities HERE.


being undertaken in the southern
part of the state. No such cotton
crop has been seen in the world as
was produced this year In the Impe-
rial valley. The conditions of soil
and climate have been found Ideal.
The only problem that remained for
the development of the industry was
that of labor for the tremendous task
of picking the crop.
Bruce Clark White has solved this
problem, and announces that next
years crop will be harvested by the
use of an automobile engine, says the
Los Angeles Tribune. He believes that
California within few years Will
produce a million bales Of cotton.
This would mean a new source of rev
enue of more than $5O,0OO.0 900. Mr..
White who has studied the produc-
ton of cotton for years in perfecting
the complicated machine which picks
it says that no such crop was ever
dreamed of as has been produced. in
southern California.
There are hundreds of thousands
of acres along the Colorado river
suitable for its production. The
Blythe and Palo Verde lands. the
Colorado river Indian reservation
at Parker which is to be opened by
the government and other districts
which can be irrigated from the Colo
RADIO river, are especially adapted to
cotton raising. A greatly increased
acreage probably will be planted in
Imperial valley next year.
81 was simply amazed at what.
found in the Imperial valley. Our
cotton picking machine was not de-
signed for such crop as that; for no
such cotton crop has ever been pro-
duced. Beginning in the Georgia cot
ton fields, where they have the little
humble bee cotton, | came west to
Texas, where We sometimes find 1t
four or five feet tall. and fairly heavy
in the bottom. but here In Imperial
valley 1t grows in a perfect jungle,
and 1t was surprising that the ma
chine could handle 1t at all.
"The- growing of cotton should be-
come great industry in the south
west. The production, find, is al
least double that of the average
reached in any other part of thi-
country. The picking of cotton by
machine eliminates the labor prob
lem and cheapens the cost of pro
duction 1t costs about $12 an acre to
produce the cotton crop. BY hand
picking it has always cost another
SIS per bale for harvesting VIII
the machine We cover an acre of
ground in about fifty minutes, anQ
where We can take two bales to the
acre it means a saving of the differ
nece between $50 and the cost of
running machine for an hour
'"The cottoon picking machine has
been under process of development
for twenty years. Mr.. Campbell
started 1t and / took it up where he
left off. The most recent improve
ment. which has made it practical
field machine, is the leaf separator
After perfecting the picking appara-
tus to the point where it would gath
er as large percentage of the crop
as the hand pickers, we found that
it was necessary to remove the leaves.
When they became entangled in the
fibre Of the cotton they were apt to
stain it. thus lowering the value of
the crop. 1t was the only respect In
which machine picked cotton differed
from hand picked. | was called to
Texas last year to solve this prob
lem, and this year We have the leaf
separator working Mr.. Price, the
president of the company is now look
ing for a location for the manufact
uring plant of these machines. It
will be a very large concern, SINH
lar to those of the harvester works
and will probably be in the east, with
California branch in Los Angeles
Mr.. White is one Of the ablest in
ventors of the age. The cotton pick
ing machine is regarded by mechan-
les as one of the marvels of fnven-
ton. A single IHachine contains -
900 parts. and in Its complicated con
struction it can only be compared to
the linotype. 1t is In the first place
an automobile with the driving pow
er applied TO all four wheels. II
straddles the row of cotton, gathering
the bolls of cotton and punching them
in a picking cylinder The fingers
which gather the cotton revolve very
rapidly on separate axes at the same
time moving backward at exactly the
same rate of speed at which the ma
chine is going forward They are