The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-10-28
WHY COTTON LEADS M U. S.? Is One Crop To Defy Aduersity

and fret or sulk and pine for con- stant attention. Planted in April, chopped" with hoe to a satisfac- tory stand in May, freed of grass in not later than the Fourth of July, and was laid by" till the autumn picking season in the knowledge that the plants would make a crop if crop was makable.
 For the stubborn persistence of cotton in fruiting under the most ad- verse conditions was, and is, re- markable. Very late last fall, in the Lake Providence section of north- east Louisiana, the writer drove past thousands of acres, which had been planted to cotton the spring before drowned out by the levee break and abandoned. For six months the grass Bermuda and Johnson, crab and cocoa-had grown unchecked. But the traces of the furrows still were there, and examination showed, al- most hidden in the grass, rows of stunted cotton plants, six inches tall instead of four feet, but bearing blos- soms and partially matured bolls when frost was nightly imminent. Drought Has No Terror
 Not even drought can tame its pro- life impulse. In Texas, where some towns depend for their water on rail- road tank cars during dry summers, they tell the story of planter who decided one September that the drought had not left him enough cot ton to pick, and went off to forget his troubles in California. On his way home, just before Christmas, he ran across a neighbor who wanted to know why he hadn't picked his cot ton. Next day he found about half a bale to the acre on his plants. It had rained the day after he left home in September, there was a late frost, and the cotton plant did the rest.
 But with the boil weevirs advent this element of the dolce far niente was taken out of cotton growing. The atom of banditry hits the cotton plant hard with both hands and in a most vital part, itself feeding on the juices of the fruiting squares" and young bolls and then using them as ineubators and breeders for its eggs and larvae.
 Poison checks the pest, but does not exterminate it, and before the end of the summer the WeeVils have multiplied so fast that they will Suncture squares and bolls faster than the plant can put them on. It is a race between the insects and the cotton, and every precaution has to be taken to get a crop of bolls set as early as possible in the season, keep them from shedding and rush them to maturity. This is accom- plished by early and thorough prep aration of the seed bed, applica- tion of stimulating fertilizers, select ing and breeding strains of seed for early maturity, prolonged cultivation and harvesting as soon as the crop is ready.
 x All of this means that a successful cotton grower nowadays has to keep on his toes all through the twelve months. And, do what he may, he seems for the time being to be slowly losing out in his fight against the weevil, as shown by the production and consumption statistics. The 1922 crop of American cotton was the equivalent of 7,953,641 bales of 500 pounds each, exclusive of linters-the short, unspinnable fiber clipped from the seed in the cotton oil mills. The worlds consumption of cotton that same year was 19,572,976 bales and it's takings of American cotton 12,- SS9,o45 bales, or practically 5,000,000 bales more than we grew.
 Cotton Is an imperishable com modity and may be warehoused for years with only slight deterioration in color and strength. There are authenticated instances of cotton stored for 30 years having been brought out and sold in competition with a current crop. The gap be- tween crop and taAngs in 1922 was bridged by large supply of Ameri- can cotton accumulated during the postwar depression. But a 50 per cent reduction In the reserve supply was caused. and second short crop this year makes it probable that the stock will be still further reduced before new crop cotton again comes to market in August, 1924.
 Another Side To Shield.
 That situation is what sends the price up, what makes the English and other consumers discuss ways and means of securing cotton else where and what makes our own ex- perts warn we are coming to time when the production of American cotton must increase if the world is to be a steady customer.
 There is, however, another side to the shield. This is not the first time foreign spinnerS have planned a "con- sumers' strike" in 1861 the Civil
 war completely removed American cotton from the markets, and by 1862 the spinners saw themselves facing ruin. They held convention for the purpose of stimulating cotton culture in India, Egypt, Turkey, dIGeCty Ildlys Opdlll, AIIlCd, lllc w tSL Indies. Peru, Brazil, Queensland and many other regions possessing favor able soil and climate. An average price of nearly forty cents a pound in Liverpool--a level till then un- dreamed of-added its special lure, and in all thirty-five countries sent samples of their cotton to be eX- hibited.
 Yet by 1872, only ten years later, QI1 hnt half dnZan of thnQa Hnnnf ri Q q
 had dropped iron sight IT the world
 marts and American cotton was once
 more king. The reason was, and is, simple. The various soils and cli-
 mates in our cotton belt are such
 that we produce most os the sorts
 of cotton the world most wants.
 The piedmont loam and "redlands"
 clays of the Atlantic section produce
 the upland" cotton. which is the basic grade of the markets, not par
 ticularly strong and with a staple of
 length of fiber ranging from three
 quarters of an inch to an inch. Next
 west. taking in Alabama and parts of Mississippi and Louisiana, is the Gulf section producing little longer and stronger fiber.
 New Region Developed.
 North of this, taking in the rest of Mississippi, all of eastern Arkansas and the cotton counties Of Tennessee and Missouri, lies the val ley section, richly alluvial of soil and warmly humid of climate, producing the finest of all American cottons save Sea Island, The smooth, silky staple runs up to an inch and three quarters and the breaking strength is unexcelled. Finally, there is the Texas Oklahoma section, producing a cotton longer and stronger than the Atlantic, not so good as the valley, of which the English spinner is exceed ingly fond.
 These sections make up the "cotton belt" of history and legend. Since the weevil came a new western region has been developed in California and Ari-