Imperial Valley press., 1913-07-01
COTTON MEN TO CONTEST
IN THE SELECTION Of SEED
n-o--.- -

In view of the facts o. that Durango
cotton, a long staple upland variety,
has yielded such favorable returns il
Imperial valley that growers Will plant
all available seed, TO the extent Of
,GCO or more acres, of this variety IN
1913; that (2) the bulk Of the Durango
seed to be planted is mixed with seed
Of other varieties, principally Mebane
short staple; that (3l a long staple
cotton industry, to be maintained, must
be cOntlnucd with clean stocks of seed
Of the Variety which is the basis Of
the industry; and therefore that (4)
tile eradication Of short staple cotton
Is Of primary Importance in the pres
cnt insl ancc: and further that (5J more
specialized selection work must be es-
tablsted as a part of a long staple
c"iron industry,
The Imperial Valley Cotton Growers
Exchange proposed an educational cash
prize contest for the season Of 1913,
designed to teach the grower primarily
to eliminate from his Durango cotton
fields plants Of all other varieties. A
further purpose of the contest is TO
bring the grower to an intimate knowl
edge Of the Durango plant type, by
continued association with the plants
IN the fields. which will prove a definite
step toward more advanced seed seIec-
ton and toward The maintenance Of
high quality stocks Of Durango seed TO
the great benefit Of the industry, i'm
mediately.
To this end the Imperial Valley Cot
ion Growers Exchange has undertaken
to raise $4,000 for purposes Of the con-
test.
The awards will be made to the best
grown fields Of mature cleaned Du-
range cotton, the fields which contain
only Durango plants being chosen and
prizes awarded to the five best fields
IN the order of the superiority as TO
prOductiveness.
1t is confidently expected that The
United States department of agriculture
will provide field demonstration of The
Durango plant type, Of the features in
which Durango differs from plants o.
other varieties Of cotton, and of the
methods Of cleaning up stocks Of mixei
Durango.
The rules Of the contest have been
drawn as follows:
1. Prize awards shall be based upca
units of not more than forty acres and
not less than ten acres.
2. All competing patches must have
been planted with valley grown mixed
Durango seed.
3. Only one prize shall be awarded
to one party. The spirit of this is
intended as well as the letter, the in
tent being that the same grower or the
same farm shall not receive more than
one of the awards.
4. II is to be understood that :lIe
sale of the seed from the premium
patch to the exchange at the pl1ce ar
ranged is an obligation assumed by
every one who enters this competition
and that the award evidenced by a
ribbon or diploma, the cash prize
and the sale Of the seed as provided
are inseparable factors.
5. A fat price shall be paid for 9ll
premium seed purchased by the eX-
change, to wit: Fifty dollars $3.50
per ton. The exchange will purchase
in all 100 tons Of seed, or as much
thereof as can he bought at the rate
Of $50 per ton out of the funds raised &:
the seed from the patch awarded first
prize shall be bought first, that awarded
second prize second, and so on as
long as the funds hold out. Only un-
frosted seed shall be purchased.
6. The cash prizes shall be arrive i
at in the following manner: Twenty
per cent Of all money raised shall be
set aside to be divided into five cash
prizes. The first prize shall be 80
per cent of said amount; the second
prize 25 per cent of said amount; the
third prize 90 per cent of said amount !;
the fourth prize IS per cent Of said
amount, and the fifth prize 10 per cent
Of said amount
7. The seed purchased by the cX-