Imperial Valley press., 1913-03-28

on which tne industry Is OaSeu WIN
short staple cotton uniformity in the
plants is important as a means Of Sc
curing high yields though the question
Of uniformity OF fiber is seldom raised
in the short staple market. But uni
formity is an important factor in the
market value of long staple cotton:
Loss of uniformity is one of the chief
causes for the failure Of many at
tempts to introduce long staple vari-
cites into short staple districts of the
southern states. The usual inference
in such cases is that the conditions
are unfavorable for the long staple va
rieties, whereas the injury has come
usually through admiXture of short
! staple seed and neglect of selection
This will soon destroy the uniformity
and commercial value of any long sta
pie variety, no matter how well bred
at the beginning.
Education of Cotton Breeders-Se-
lection is not difficult for those whe
have sufficient familiarity with the
characteristics of variety, but most
farmers are not accustomed to doing
work of this kind and prefer TO buy
their seed to growing it for them
selves. Nevertheless, each community
should have enough local breeders or
seed growers to maintain the necessary
supply of select seed. The work of Sc
lection has been rendered easier and
more effective by the development OF
improved methods, as describeddn 9TH
er publications of the bureau of plant
industry
certain amount of practice in OBJ
servation is required to develop skill
I in recognizing differences between in
dividual plants, so as to preserve those
that are true to type and reject all that
are abnormal or aberrant. Ability to
do this is not rare, though seldom de-
veloped applied. The problem of
educating more cotton breeders is now
receiving attention, and ii is hoped
that opportunities of learning this art
may be provided in the Imperial val
IpN n
Eradication of Weed Cotton-An un-
usual difficulty arises from the fact
that in the Imperial valley cotton so
frequently survives the winter in the
Fl elds or escapes in waste places,
wherever the seed happens to be scat
tered. Though the plants are usually
roots remain alive and send up new
shoots in the spring from subterranean
buds. If a determined effort is to be
made to place the growing Of cotton
in the Imperial valley on a Durango
basis one of the first steps should be
to eradicate all the plants of other va
rieties from the fields as well as those
that are now scattered about like
weeds IN many neighborhoods. An es-
capped cotton plant is much more dan
gerous than an ordinary weed. The
contamination of select variety is
not merely temporary injury. but
may take years of careful selection to
eliminate.
In view of the obvious danger of
plants or from volunteers that spring
up from scattered seed Of the previ-
Gus season, IL is certainly inadviSable
to plant Durango cotton on any land
fore. Neglect of this precaution and
that of separate ginning of the seed
planted in the season OF 1912 has re-
suited in contamination of nearly all
of the Durango seed in the Imperial
valley, which is now recognized as a
serious loss to the community. The
present stock of seed will need to be
discarded and replaced by new sup
plies of select seed that are being
brought in from Texas. But any pure
stock will soon become contaminated if
grow in adjacent fields or along bor-
| ders or ditch banks, where volunteer
plants are often found.
Conclusions-The Durango cotton is
new type introduced and acclima-
| tized by the department of agricui-
| ture and recommended in 1911 as the
upland long staple variety best suited
80 irrigated conditions in the south
! and field paintings in 1912 have rem
dered the superiority Of the new type
| still more apparent.
Excellent results have been secured
in numerous paintings of the Durango
variety in the Imperial valley in 1912
The superi ority of the new type has
become still more apparent and is rec
ognized by the local cotton growing
community. which is now making an
organized effort to place the valley
exclusively on a Durango basis.
The superiority. Of the Durango va
riety lies in the fact that it combines
the desirable cultural qualities Of shor,
staple varieties with length anG
strength of lint formerly obtained only
the delta region of Mississippi and
Louisiana. All the experiments indi-
cate that the Durango cotton is much
BETTER adapted to the Imperial valley
ct nj
The idea Of transferring the delta
varieties to the Imperial valley is i'm
practicable. Experiments have shown
that these varieties are not suited to
conditions in the Imperial valley on
account of later maturity, low yield,
lint. With respect to these cultural
characters, the Peeler cotton is in
ferior TO the Egyptian cotton as well
as to the short staple varieties. The
found in the Durango, which is early
and productive and has abundant, uni
form fiber.
Though the soil and climate Of the
Imperial valley are favorable 10 the
production of an excellent quality of
Egyptian cotton, the lack of an ade-
quate supply of labor for picking in
terferes with the DEVELOPMENT Of an
Egyptian cotton industry in that COM
munity. The Introduction Of the Du-
range cotton meets the demand for a
long staple variety adapted to the To-
cal conditions and promises the largest
profits for the farmers Of the valley.
Local adjustment of cotton varie-
ties, United States department of agri-
letin 159, and cotton selection on the
farm by the characters of the stalks
leaves and hollis, same bureau. circu-
lar Sc.
Seed potatoes, sound at cod, s1.1Ol
l.