The Parker post., 1918-09-14
LONG STAPLE
IS A SUCCESS

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1O.~-The es-
tablishment of the -Egyp-
tlan cotton industry in the irrigated
valleys of the southwest is assured
according to the United States de-
partment OF agriculture, If present
demands are maintained, prices re-
main near the present level, and Ii
labor is available to harvest the large
crops which have been planted.
War demands have had much to
do with the late phenomenal growth,
much of the product being taken for
special automobile tires, and for air
plane and balloon fabrics
The industry of growing this long
staple cotton was started In the Salt
River valley of Arizona, and has
since spread to the Yuma Reclama-
tion project in California and Arizo-
ma, the Gila valley of Arizona, and
the Imperial, Palo Verde, and San
Joaquin valleys of California. The
crop has increased in value from
$4,000 in 1912 to $6,00O,OO0 in
1917, and the area planted for this
years harvest, $500 acres, is more
than double that planted last year.
1t is said that the belief Is still
prevalent that the American-Egyp-
tian cotton-growing industry Is al
yet too small to be worth serious con-
sideration and that while the pro-
duct is of value there is not enough
OF it to be worth going after in the
market, Also the transportation
rates from the southwest were so
much higher than from Egypt that
the American product was CONNER
cial disadvantage. These conditions
have been reversed, however, since
the war began,
In 1913, the latest pre-war year.
only $500 acres were planted. This
year $4,000 acres were seeded, and
at least 10000 acres will be harvest
ed, the difference representing the
proportion that may be abandoned
before picking time, the abandon
ment being due, in most cases, to the
failure to get good stand
Possibilities of Industry.
Eventually the area in this coun-
try may be expected to reach 100000
acres giving total yield of 25O,0O0
bales of the Egyptian type; this pre-
diction is subject to the general pro-
viso that the prices of fiber and seed
remain somewhat near the present
levels, and that labor may be had for
picking SO large an area.
Part of the needed labor promises
to be supplied from the ranks of In
dians in Arizona ,and some of the
labor has come from Mexico. Yet
much more effort will have to be
made than in the past to get labor
for harvesting this years crop. In
limiting factor will be labor. If prices
keep up.
Community Effort Needed.
Community effort is needed both
in growing and marketing. Some
incentive toward organized effort has
been furnished by contracts with
tire manufacturers who have financed
the growing of the crop in return for
an option on it; and at least three
farmers cooperative associations
have been formed, one near Yuma,
one in Imperial valley, and one In
Fresno county, California.
An effective selling organization
on cooperative basis needs to be
established, transportation difficulties
overcome, and a recognition gained
for the intrinsic worth of this long
fibered cotton, which already meets
real requirement in the long staple
cotton market
An association should also arrange
for producing and maintaining seed
supplies that will insure standard
varieties of the best type, free from
admixture with inferior types. The
Pima variety seems the most destr-
able so far developed, and pure
strains should be made available for
much larger paintings than have yet
been made from this seed
Thn d n.aI n HN,so.anGa..