The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1914-03-25
DANGER OF STAPLE
DETERIORATINC
Varieties from Southwest Declared
Unsuited to Oklahoma; Warn
ings are Given by Knapp
and Bentley

Cotton planters Ia Oklahoma are be
ing strongly urged by the department
Of agriculture TO plant seed from cot
ION grown In this section OF the coun
try. Il Is admitted that the cotton
seed problem is a serious one and a
lively discussion OF Il is going on in
The agricultural papers. A timely arti
Gle on the subject is contributed 20 the
Express by L. c. Hutson VI this city
(By L. c. Hutson.)
On account OF the bad condition OF
the cotton seed in our state, brought
about by the extreme drouih OF last
summer, followed by the excessive
moisture during the picking season
those Interested In the selling OF seed
from other sections Of the country
have flocked to Oklahoma to try to
dispose OF high priced planting seed.
The farmer naturally believes that
anything coming from distance. and
Of different variety to what he has,
Is better than what he has at home.
Especially is this the case. II he is
given the privilege Of paying a high
price for t. We. who nfe Interested
IL the cotton industry in this section
know that this is a false idea. The
farmer who goes east OF the MIssissip-
pl river 10 purchase planting seed IL
not only foollshly spending his money.
bat is doing the community an injury
by introducing a.varlety Of cotton abb
solutely inferior TO that which we al
ready have in oklahoma and north
Texas.
Some years ago the writer joined in
the purchasing OF sufficient amount
Of cotton seed from North Carolina
"a plant practically the entire acreage
in the territory around Lindsay. Okla.
thinking that we were getting a very
quick maturing cotton which would
be far superior 10 our Oklahoma va
riety As an illustration Of our ser
ious mistake-any cotton man who has
been h-y.hg cotton around Lindsay
for a number Of years remembers that
in years previous 10 the introduction
cf this small boil cotton az Lindsay.
the staple at that point was selling at a
premium OF 25 per cent per hundred
over cotton produced around Chicka-
sha and other towns west of Lindsay.
After the Introduction OF this seed
and the crop began TO come in. the
buyers Immediately found that there
was something seriously the matter
with the Lindsay staple and when lists
OF cotton we're bought r o. b. the
press at Chlckasha. 1t was no unco-
mon thing for them to specify NO cot.
ion to be included in the sale which
was concentrated from Lindsay
Others bought the cotton at a reduc-
ton of from 25 to 50 points. II took
some two or three years to eradicate
this variety of seed from that section
and bring the staple back TO the Okla
homa standard.
During the present season. some
bales of cotton from Oklahoma landed
in Liverpool, England. in which the
staple was found to be so short that
II was rejected as ''unmerchaniable. =
The secretary OF the Liverpool cotton
exchange, by marks and tag numbers,
traced this cotton back and 1t was
found to have been grown from seed
known as "Half and Half" sold in
Oklahoma. The secretary OF the Liv'
erpool cotton exchange went on rec
ord 70 this effect writing a letter to
the Oklahoma cotton exchange.
Just recently the United States de
partment If agriculture, through their
special agent, Mr.. Bradford Knapp
who looks after the cotton interests
OF the south, has been following this
subject up. and Mr. Knapp has written
a letter to W. ID. Bentley. state agent
In which he says in part:
"Standafdization of variety is one
Of the most valuable assets Of any
community II happens that a good
many communities in Oklahoma have
without any special effort except the