Arizona republican., 1921-07-17

When it came to bloom, however, some honey bee that had been harv- esting it's sweets in an adjoining field in ordinary cotton would come visiting. It would wipe its feet on the doormat of the Egyptian cotton bloom Those feet would have on them the plebian pollen of common cotton. When the bee brought that. pollen to the Egyptian cotton it consum- mated a wedding between the two and the cotton resuding was a hy- brid. It was no longer Egyptian. The two cottons: could. not live side by side and renal distinct. There is much deterioration in Egypt because inferior grades have been getting in
 But Arizona had a thousand miles of desert between it and any other variety of cotton. It had the long growing season needed TOT the Egyp- ton varieties. Knowing this. the pa tient scientists of the department of agriculture had for ten years, been growing the best grades of Egyptian
 cotton down there. They would each year select their most promising indi-
 vidual plants and shake the pollen from one to the other. planting the
 seed which resulted. Thus did they build up better and better breeds
 Finally they established new type
 of cotton. They named 1t Pima. aft
 CT the tribe of Indians on whose res ervation the experiment station was
 located. Long staple Pima cotton. na- l tive of Arizona. today tops the mar ket of the world.
 Tn 1912 the government scientists asked the farmers of the Salt River valley to grow this long staple cot ton and about sixty of them respond ed.As usual the pioneers experienced harships, met obstacles. 1t was an unaccustomed sort of farming. the | facilities were not developed for the handling and marketing of crops, The cotton brought about 20 cents a i pound. which was from two. to three tinies thS priteS of the tordinary fiber I The undertaking showed possibilities. i Production steadily increased until the l war came and the price dropped down 1 in 1914 to IS cents pound
 ] In 1915 the great advance started | and Arizona, cotton went to 25 cents a pound. This meant real money. 4
 year later it sold for 4S cents. in 1917 | at 69 cents, in 1919 at S6 cents c pound. To be sure there was a slumr
 in the winter of 192u-21 for all cotton
 tumbled and there was-ia cessation ! in the manufacture of tires. but thi: | circumstance did not affect the fund
 amentals that underlie this industry All this came to pass because 2 | great new use had been found fol
 long staple cotton. 1t had gone into airplane wings as a substitute fol fsflax during the war. But it had alss
 been found that cord tires for auto
 mobiles made of long staple cottor ! had strength and endurance far be yond those made of any other. Th'
 tire manufacturers were bidding fo this cotton. ---
 So here was region which had { virtual monopoly on a product fol which the demand was greater thai I the supply. There were no other con
 siderable areas in which it could b' grown. The demand was increasing
 Here is what a good farmer can d.
 on one acre: He can plant and cul Il tivate 1t for s125. If his work is eff
 cient his return will be one 500 poun'
 bale This bale at 50 cents will brinl
 him $500 and profits. of s275. The av
 craze Salt River valley farm is abou
 50 acres. On such a farm the sea
 sons profits are nearly sf4.oo0.
 hundred acre farm, if efficiently han dled, is good for in annual profit
 from s25,000 to s3o.voo These fact nave fbttlA En0 1dc , is proven.
 So has the wonder valley come t , be a cotton patch which is cultivate ] with the intensive care of China mans garden. Those beautiful alfal ia fields that have yielded their un stinted crops for a generation hay been plowed up. vineyards have bee . subjected to the grubbing hoe. or u chards to the axe. From mountain | ? mountain. so miles from east to yves s and 90 miles from north to soutf l there is a vast sheet of this pure bre fiber. broken only here and there b l. established and more profitabl II squares in the checRerboard occu 2 pied by orange groves and olive an . walnut orchards. Merchants have lei f their stores. lawyers their practice S teachers their classrooms and gon : upon the land. There is a rush to e like that to gold discoveries in tn same nearby mountains a generatio el ago.
 r E.. W. Hudson, the governmer VI scientist who evolved Pima" expeT . fenced the money madness. got s virgin s00-acre tract and made s200 q coo on it the first year
 i. Yet the marvel of the Wonder Val
 ley has not stopped even there. On Ol lllt great COIIlpdIllS e in its anxiety to insure its supply [ f this cotton, came to Arizona to gro . its own. Finding that all the Ian
 supplied with water from the estat . lished irrigation project was alread b divided among small farmers. !. sought other possibilities. It hs ambition to play the role of Nose
 and smite other rocks from whic
 water might gush forth. So it wer
 out upon the desert waste to whic
 water could never be made to flo from any stream or reservoir II land that man had looked upon g
 eternally beyond hope. But as ' unreeled its miles of copper wire an e this wire was tied back to the dy : namo at the foot of Roosevelt dan L over it came that power which '- electricity. And the cleo u icit 'ti hitched itself into pumps. reache d into the bowels of the earth an y brought. forth life giving water.
 r. One passes down a lane of sage e brush that follows the copper wire