The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-10-25
Advice to Farmers.

Progressive Farmer, Prof. j. f.
Duggar tells of two new ways to
boost the price of cotton. When
one speaks of the farmers striving
to secure better prices, it is natural
to suppose that they are planning
either to control prices or to use
new marketing methods. Prof.
Duggar's plan is entirely different
from any of these.
I'VE make a mistake when, after
heavy rains that beat out part of
the cotton, We pick up that soil
stained cotton and put it in the same
bag with the unstained cotton. 1t
seems to me that the lowering of
the value of all the cotton produced
by the inclusion Of few pounds of
mud-stained cotton reduces the value
of the entire bale by an amount that
would more than pay for the sepa-
rate picking of the mud stained cot
ton," he says.
my suggestion is that after a
storm the pickers be required to
pick only the white cotton; then that
the field be gone over again and the
stained cotton on the ground picked
up, kept separate, and sold in a sepa-
rate bale.
True, bale made up entirely of
stained cotton would sell at lower
price than a bale containing only a
few stains, but only one bale in
many would thus contain stained
cotton. A few pounds of stained
cotton mixed in with the white cot
ton serves to depress the price Of
the whole; that is, one pound of
stained cotton will depress the price
of say fifty pounds of white cotton
by at least One-fOurth of a cent per
pound. which think is a conserva-
tive estimate. This would represent
loss Of about thirteen cents for
the fifty pounds or about $1.30 per
bale. Frequently the depreciation
will be greater than this:
1T will be urged that it is i'm
practicable to go over the field twice
within q short period. In reply to
this let us remember that the pick
ing up of stained cotton from the
ground is slow operation and re-
a hn lob 90 ,l~sk
l believe almost enough time would
be econQmized by leaving the stain
ed cotton temporarily on the
ground to provide the time and labor
necessary for returning and picking
up the stained cotton separately.
Stains of another class may be
even more harmful in depressing the
value of the entire product. / al
lude to the stains caused by picking
or bolls that are not thoroughly
sound, having been damaged hy boil
rot or by weather. The same argu-
ments as above could be made for
the separate picking Of only the
well-Opened, fluffy cotton, leaving
the damaged or imperfect bolls and
the immature cotton to be gathered
in going over the second time. There
Is no objection to picking together
cotton that is stained by mud ana that
which is stained by insect injury, boil
rot. etc. Both may be gathered at the
same picking subsequent to the main
picking"
Another thing Prof. Duggar sug-
gests, is to plant only one type Of
cotton, or ut least not to mix different
kinds. He says:
"On many farms two or more va
rieties of cotton are grown. III this
case, it will pay to keep separate the
seed cotton from the two kinds, pro-
vided the two make lint of different
lengths or quality. This would not
be necessary with varieties having
about the same length of lint but
even in such cases separate ginning
of each could be retained.
Indeed look for the time to come
when farmers will see the advantage
of every one in a community growing
the same variety Of cotton as mutual
ly agreed upon. In this way all the
cotton produced in the community
would be of standard and definite
staple, and hence would sell at a
slightly higher price. If farmers are
ever to sell their cotton direct to
spinners. the best way to bring it
about is for each community to grow
the same variety, so that they can I'll
an order for large lots of uniform cot
ton"
USES DECISION AS GUIDE.