Arizona republican., 1920-02-20
VALLEY ID REACH
 LIMIT OF AMOUNT
 IF COTTON GROWN

How much cotton will the Salt River valley raise? The question is raised from all sides and var ieus answers arc heard. lt is ad- mitted that the valley will raise all that can be planted for at least one season, but for a steady diet of cotton year in and year out, experts of the U. s. Depart
 nent of Agriculture are of the opinion that this district can prob ably grow from 75,ooO to 1oo,- 900 acres of cotton annually. This takes into account the areas ca Pabie of being irrigated both by gravity and from artesian wells. This statement as to the amount of cotton which can well be grown here was made prior to the start of this season. From all appear ances, and from figures gathered by the cotton men of the valley, this years acreage will approxi- mate 150,0oo acres.
 Prior to this year the entire acreage planted to Egyptian long staple cotton has yielded on an average 25o pounds to the acre. But it is tho opinion of the govern nent experts that with crop TO- tation, which of course takes into consideration the cutting down of the total acreage, it will be possible in the future to produce about 500 pounds, or an average of one bale of cotton to the acre.
 The commercial production of Egyptian cotton in the United States involves the marketing of the product in direct competition with the crop of Egypt. This fact te ,S the status of the cotton industry in that country and a comparison be- tween conditions there and in the southwestern United States.
 The production in Egypt of cot ton having staple comparable with that of. the Salt River valley product is limited to what is known as Lower Esypt-that IS to say, the Nile Delta, north of Cairo. This region includes about 3,25o,oO acres of irrigated land, of which about 40 per cent is annually de- voted to cotton.
 This land is heavily capitalized and the cost of irrigation water is high. These figures are best ex- pressed by rental values. which 1t is probable that the average rental value in lower Egypt is no. far from $40 an acre, being much higher than the average rental value of iand in the southwestern United States having . similar ca pabilities of crop production.
 While the cotton growers of Ari- zona have the advantage in respect to land rental or interest on land investment those of Egypt are able to get their cotton picked at much less cost, owing to the cheapness and abundance of labor in that country. Aside from these two items, tho cost of production is probably not very different in the two countries, since the low wage paid to farm laborers in Egypt is offset by the fact that the Amer ican farmer works with large fields and with modern implements, while on the other hand the Egyp- tian farmer works in small fields with very primitive implements.
 The Egyptian industry suffers two serious handicaps which do not exist in Arizona. One of these is the difficulty of maintaining pure seed, due to the wide spread occurrence of "hindi," or weed cot ton, and the pink boil worm, which has caused serious and extensive damages and which is still spread ing.
 It is probable that the higher valuation of lard in Egypt together with the less efficient methods of tilling, nearly or quite offsets the higher cost of labor in the United States. The crop producing capa- biIities of the two regions are much the same. The commercial value of the Arizona crop compares fav- orabiy with the best of the Egyp- tian crop. Finally the Egyptian crop grown in the United States is practically free from "hindi" con tan,inations, and the pink boil worm has not yet found it's way into Arizona-and it won't either if the government agents have their way.