Imperial Valley press., 1913-03-28
DURANGO COTTON IN
THE IMPERIAL VALLEY

o. F. Cook, Economist in charge of
crop acclimatization and adaptation in
vestigations, in a bulletin issued by
the agricultural department. thus re
views the valley product:
lntr roduction-Durango cotton is a
new type of long staple upland cotton
recently introduced and accIimatized
~ the United States department of ag-
ricuiture. The behavior of the Du-
range cotton in numerous experimental
ana held paintings leaves no doubt
that the variety is well suited to the
irrigated lands of the Imperial valley
OF southern California. other long sta
pie varieties have given excellent re
SUITS when the conditions happened to
pc favorable. but the Durango has
SHOWN a wider range of adaptation
and has produced good crops in places
where other long staple cottons were
comparative failures The success Of
interest and IS stimulating the devel-
Z opment of long staple cotton indus
Try IN southern California.
Inere Is every reason to expect that
long staple cotton will become one
OF the chief products Of irrigation
farming in the Southwest. In addition
10 very favorable natural conditions
and the absence Of boil weevils. the
cotton growers Of the irrigated states
are more ready to avail themselves Of
the many advantages that are to be
:
cal cotton growing associations for
the production Of single superior type
of cotton in the community.
Development of Durango Cott1n-Du-
range cotton Is one of several varieties
developed BY the department Of agri-
culture with a view to mitigating the
injuries Of the bon weevil in Texas
anu adjacent states. The probability
that the weevil would seriously inter
fere with the cultiva ton of the late
maturing types of long STAPLE upland
in he u al u
valley and in the Yazoo delta region
OF Mississippi and Louisiana was fore
seen several years before the long sta
pie districts were actually invaded bv
the weeVlls- It was feared that the
weevil invasion might result in the
complete destruction Of the long staple
INDUSTRY unless earlier and more pro
life varieties could be developed
The Columbia, Foster and Durango
varieties may serve TO illustrate three
different methods that were employed
by the department of agriculture in
the effort TO develop earlier long stapIe
sorts The Columbia cotton was OBJ
tanned by straight selection from a
short staple variety, the Foster by
crossing long and short staple varie-
ues, and the Durango by acclimatiza-
ton and selection Of an imported
stock.
Several other promising types of
upland cotton have been secured by
the department Of agriculture from
weevil infested regions in Mexico and
Central America and acclimatized in
the United States on account of special
characters or habits that render them
less susceptible to weeviI injury. The
Durango is the first of these to attain
sufficient uniformity to justify general
distribution. The fact that the Du-
range cotton has weevil resisting char
acters is not important. Of course in
ne Imperial valley, where there are no
boil weeVils: but the variety has other
good qualities. quite apart from weevii
resistance.
That valuable new varieties should
be found in Mexico and other parts of
tropical America should not appear
surprising in view of the fact that
most Of the types of cotton now culti-
vated in the United States appear to
have been introduced from tropical
America. The socalled Texas big boil
vari are supposed to have been
derived from a Mexican stock intro
duced only few decades ago The
introduction of the sea island cotton
from the West Indies is also a matter
of history
The acclimatization of Durango cot
ton was begun seven years ago in
1905, when the original stock of seed
from the state Of Durango, Mexico, was
planted for the first time in Texas. The
superior type represented by the pres
ent select strain was first recognized
and isolated at Del Rio, Tex, in Oc-
tober, 1907. The introduction of the
variety into the Imperial valley oc-
CURED in 1911. when a field of about