Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-12-23

cotton developed that was quite differ
ent from Egyptian. 1t was called Yuma cot
| ton.
Yuma is down in the corner of Arizona,
| just across the river from the great desert
| of southern California, in the hottest part Of
| the United States. Up in the middle Of the
| state is Sacaton reservation, where reside GER
| tain Indian wards of the government They
| have artesan wells and fertile lands. The
government has experiment station there.
Hundreds of miles of barren lands stretch in
| every direction There is consequently no
possibility of pure strain of cotton becoming
contaminated
The scientific men at Sacaton took the
Yuma cotton as a basic stock and began to
| build upon it. They selected plants with GER
tain desirable qualities and mated them, year
after year. So yet another variety of cotton
was developed It was called "Pma,'' from
| the Indians Of the neighborhood. 1t is bet
ter cotton than the Yuma. 1t is undoubted-
! ly better cotton than the best varieties of
Egyptian. 1t is probably the best variety of
cotton in all the world.
Near SacatOn Indian reservation IS Salt
River valley Here a strip of land twenty
miles wide and fifty miles long is watered by
the famous Roosevelt reservoir. 1t is a val
ley built up of silt washed down from the
mountains. 1t is level, but gently slipping.
It used to be an uninhabitable sagebrush
plain but was long ago brought under irri-
cation. 1t is the model irrigation project of
them al. and one Of the most productive
stretches of farming LAM in all the woc.d. 1t
used to be planted in alfalfa, fruit trees and
sugar heets
III this valley tarmers began, six vaarg Ego
to grew Pima cotton eXperiTlentally. ihc
success was immediate, and the returns were
greater than from any other crop. Each year
saw the number of acres doubled. Each year
saw methods improved and profits increased
Last year nearly a hundred thousand
acres of Pima cotton were under cultivation
in this valley. Next year there will be $780,
900 acres. This will be the maximum. 1t
will be half the land in the valley, and the
other half must be devoted to raising the
necessities of the region-grain, hay, fruit,
vegetables.
good farmer in Salt River valley grows
a bale of cotton to the acre. 1t weighs 500
pounds, which, at eighty cents a pound
amounts to $500. 1t costs $125 an acre to
grow the crop, the result being $275 an acre
profit The poor farmer makes half bale
to the acre, or $50 pounds, worth $780, and
mere SIS an acre profit. &c. everybody is
going into cotton.
The great trouble in Egypt, the great trou-
BILE in the cotton growing states, is in keep
ing a variety of cotton pure. If Pima cot
ton were grown in one field and ordinary cot
ton in another on the next farm, honey bee
would ply its trade in the field of scrub cot
ton and get pollen all over it's legs. Then it
would fly over in the field of Pima, bore
/ into blossom and deposit some OF the scrub
pollen. The cotton resulting would be
cross between the two varieties, Tor this is
the way plants mate. The strain of Pima
would thus deteriorate. Egyptian cotton on
the Nile is suffering this sort Of degenera-
ton.
But in Arizona there is but one strain of
cotton. If a farmer should plant any other
variety vigilance committee would wait on
him. The farmers bound together in
their determination to maintain the purity of
their cotton. They get eighty cents while
the other fellow gets forty cents. Their pres
perity depends on keeping the cotton pure.
/ The methods Of these farmers gladden. the
hearts Of the scientists They set aside GER
tain fields for seed. When the plants in those
fields are nearing the period of blossoming,
experts go through them and cut down every
stalk that is not up to standard. No weak
| ling plant is allowed to reproduce itself.
|, Here is farming carried on just as the
Department of Agriculture would have it
done. The ACCESSIBILITY of this sort Of farm
ing is shown in the returns from it in dol
Lars and cents.