Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-25


grew by great bounds until the Euro
pean war caused a temporary setback
by disrupting markets. and which now
promises to + continue healthy growth
romantic features OF the introduction
Of Egyptian cotton into the southwest
is that 1t is proving an important
factor in the well-being of Indian
cestors grew cotton by irrigation long
before Columbus led white men to this
country, but who gave up the primitive
culture and utilization of the fiber
plant when the encroaching white
mans civilization made cheap. ready
woven fabrics available. These are
the Pima Indians. who are remunera-
lively growing the newly introduced
plant on their little reservation plots;
and the Papagos. who, not possessing
irrigible lands, have taken up cotton
picking.
This has been profitable both to
themselves and to the white planters;
for the picking of Egyptian cotton is
very different matter from the pick
ing of ordinary cotton, and the Indians
seem specially fitted for the new task.
The cotton must be taken from the
bolls carefully and rather deliberately
trash. the value of the fiber in the
market being based largely on the alb
sence of foreign matter. For this rea-
son double rate is paid for picking
Egyptian cotton Whites and Mexi-
cans. however, tempted by the high
rate, speed up and so ruin the cotton.
The Indian pickers are content to
work more slowly and still earn good
wages while making possible the pro-
duction Of the best of fiber.
The plants of the Egyptian cotton
are much taller and much ranker in
growth than ordinary cotton, and rap
idly deteriorate when pollen from other
varieties Of cotton is permitted to fer
tilize its flowers. In Egypt the stocks
have become contaminated to a con-
siderable extent, and this is one rea
son why the Department Of Agriculture
is so anxious to establish the industry
in this country, where. in the hands Of
intelligent growers, the purity OF the
stock can be better preserved. Seeds
were brought to the United States in
1902 and plants were bred by the fed
eral agricultural experts for ten years
before they were satisfied that they
had removed practically all traces of
type contamination.
Experiments in the Salt River valley
had been watched with interest by
planters, and when the plants had been
brought to a satisfactory quality and
government experts suggested their
valley residents enthusiastically took
up the new industry. In 1912 375 bales
were produced. This was followed in
1913 by more than 1000 and in 1914 by
set market conditions the 1915 plant
ings fell back to the 1913 mark, but
an increase has been registered this
year following a rise in prices.
The growth of the industry has been
made possible only by close community
co operation. for it has been necessary
to prevent the growth of any other
cotton near the Egyptian, to carefully
select seed supplies. to erect special
gins and to work out special market
arrangements. All of these problems
have been solved by cooperative asso-
Citations. which were formed and have
been led by government plant and mar
ket experts. The result is that the
bulk OF the american Egyptian cot
ton completes with the very choicest of
the imported fiber from Egypt and that
the American seed supply is the more
dependable.
cotton has been between 100000 and
10000 bales in recent years, and has
passed the 100000 mark with the pres
ent great demand for our factories to
turn out tire fabrics, web belts. tent
cloths and other war supplies. The
American production of the Egyptian
type is as yet but a fraction Of the
amount consumed in America, but 1t is
possible now that the pioneer work
has been done by the government that
at least more than half the needed
amount may be supplied from home
fields before many years have passed.
The crop will always be distinctly a
western crop. requiring as it does an
extra long growing season, irrigation,
absence OF other cotton and freedom
from boil weevils and other pests The
Agricultural Department experts esti-
mate that $4,000 bales may easily be
grown in the Salt River valley by use
Of only one-fourth the land for the
crop, and that an additional 100000
bales could be produced in the Yuma
valley of Arizona and California and
Irnnarial of ho Lott cta
with 20 per cent of their acreage de-
voted to the crop. If conditions should
make the growth of Egyptian cotton
strikingly more profitable than other
pletely filled by slight increase in
acreage.
Flinging messages through the ether
for thousands of miles by wireless has
been accomplished only
Wireless by the solution of num-
nl, berless problems that
o. have arisen and been
solved since the early days of the
epoch making invention. One of the
battling problems of wireless, especial
ly in long distance work. has just
been solved however. and this solution
like so many others in modern applied
science. has been made by experts of
the federal government. Electric ether
waves of very great length are re-
quired to carry messages to vast dis
tances. and in the production of these
much electrical energy must be ex-
pended. Up to a certain point the use
of long waves has contributed to the
ease of operation of the plant. reduc-
ing resistance; but there has then
come an inexplicable change to a rap
idly increasing resistance, causing
great waste of energy. Observers
thought they had satisfactorily proved
ton of energy was due to the earth,
since certain experiments at sea had
shown very low resistance. If this were
true nothing could be done to lessen
losses at land wireless stations.
Radio experts Of the bureau of stand
ards were not satisfied with this ex-
PLANTATION and by a series of expert
ments at the bureau in Washington
have proved that the lost energy is
Slapped away not by the earth but by
wooden masts usually employed to
trees and buildings near the station.
The experts built a small system of
sending wires or antennae with one
end close to the branches of q tree
and the other end in the open, pro-
vision being made to switch off the
portion of the wires near the tree
While the absorption on the unob-
structed end was negligible it was
enormous when the tree end was also
proved the earth did not absorb the
eneruy nv huild{nQ a miniature nm