The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-05-24
IMPORT MUCH COTTON
AMAZING FIGURES ANNOUNCED
BY THE GOVERNMENT
Sixteen Million Dollars Worth Of the
Egyptian Cotton Was Brought Into
This Country Last Year.

That the requirements Of the cot
ton goods industry neeessita+es the
importation of approximately 60,000,-
600 pounds Of Egyptian cotton, cost
ling $16,000,000, is probably unknown
to the majority Of readers who read
of the enormous crops of cotton rro-
duced in our Southern states and
learn that during the last. seven
months all records have been broken
and practically s50o,000,ooo worm
of that staple has been exported.
But it was the considerable value
of this import that induced the Unit
ed State department Of agriculture,
several years ago, to endeaVor to de-
velop Egyptian cotton culture in the
United States in order to supply our
own market with homegrown pro-
duct.
| Although experiments were made
at different points from South Caro-
lima to Texas, as well as in western
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and
southern California, it was only in
the Colorado river region that eli
matte and other conditions similar to
those in the Nile valley, and suited
to the long staple Egyptian cotton,
were found. There, 100000 acres of
excellent land are, or soon will De,
under ditch in the imperial, Yuma,
Salt and ella valleys, and one-ffth
this acreage could produce the
amount of Egyptitn cotton annually
imported for the use Of New Eng
Hands mills.
For several years studies and e8-
lperiments with the various eastern
! varieties have been undertaken in
southern Arizona, southeastern Cali
fornia, and Egypt, and several bulle-
tins have been issued giving detailed
reports OF the progress made and
success achieved.
Just now the department has is
sued another pamphlet bulletin 210,
bureau Of plant Industry, reporting
the results of a visit to- the cotton
growing districts Of Egypt in June
and July, 1910, of the Economist Of
the department, in which is shown
that the mixture Of Hindi cotton is
proving to be serious burden upon
the Egyptian cotton industry.
Hind is the name applied in Egypt
to an undesirable type of cotton
with a short, weak fiber, that in
jures the high-grade Egyptian varie-
ties by infesting them with hybrids.
The introduction Of the Egyptian cot
ton into the United States brings al
so the problem of the Hindi cotton
and the practicability of establishing
commercial culture of the Egyptian
cotton in the United States depends
largely upon the elimination Of Hindi
contamination and other forms of di-
versity, so that the fiber may be pro-
duced in a satisfactory condition OF
uniformity.
Breeding experiments have shown
that it is possible to secure much
higher degree of uniformity in Ariz-
ona than now exists in most Of the
cotton fields of Egypt. If reasontble
care be used in maintaining the uni
isormity of these types, it does not
seem that the American grown Egrr
tian cotton is likely to suffer any
commercial Disadvantage on that
ground of lack of uniformity, even
though the Egyptian habit of hand
sorting is not followed.
The exclusion of the Hindi cotton
by an efficient system of selection
will enable white varieties TO be
grown, produing longer and stronger
fiber than the brown varieties are
likely to afford and will further the
development and preservation of uni
form strains of Egyptian cotton in the
United States.