Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-08
COTTON GROWERS OF DIXIE
FACE DEADLY COMPETITION
Texas Holds Advantage Over Southeast
While Russia Hurries to
Develop Turkestan.

remains that about three-fourthS Of
North Carolina cotton. two-thirds OF
South Carolina cotton, sevep-eighths OF
Georgia cotton and nine-tenthS Of Ala
of an inch grade. Muct. S9 .22ris shoTae-
cotton is exported from the region,
while mills within the area import an
nually hundreds of thousands Of bales
of the better grades.
For at least Is years well bred va
rifles OF cotton, averaging an inch or
more in staple. have been shown to
produce far higher yield to the acre
than the short grades Virtually all the
high production records for acreage
have been made by farmers growing the
best varieties 1ntelligently marketed,
these high-grade cottons obtain q diff
ferential in price Of 10 per cent above
inferior grades.
Yet the bulk of Southeastern farmers
continue to raise one-third to one-hah
bale per acre, whereas, even under
boil weevil conditions, intelligent farm
management can produce one and a
half to two bales an acre.
Experiments in High Grade Staple.
For 18 years, Darlington County,
s. c., the region Immediately sur
rounding Huntsville, has planted q
considerable portion of its acreage In
varieties that will produce the 3-16
inch or l 3-8 inch staple. This Is
largely due to the experimental work
in seed breeding carried on at the farm
of D. c. Coker, seed breeder, and to
strenuous propaganda throughout his
neighborhood carried on by Mr.. Coker.
The proportion of high-grade cotton at
times run as high as 95 per cent Of
the Darlington County crop.
Mr.. Coker for several years made
study Of variations In price received by
| farmers growing different grades. He
learned that, while short staple cotton
Of middling grade WAS receiving an aver
age of 20.86 cents a pound, 3-16 cot
ton brought 1853 cents and 15-16
brought 33.46 cents.
Darlington County has not been the
only one to find tnat growing good cot
ton paid. Some years ago, under the
leadership of Gov. o. Max Gardner of
North Carolina, the farming and bust
ness interests of Cleveland County in
that State worked out q program
whereby the improved long staple was
raised and was sold to mills at a pre-
MUM. Money for these quality crops
was spent with the local merchants and
deposited in the local banks. The result
has been higher degree OF prosperity
for this cotton growing county than for
any similar county in North Carolina.
When the Cleveland County program
was started the county was producing
$4,000, bales year. In 1929 1t pro-
duced $4,000 bales and marketed them
at a premium at a time when many
of the leading counties in the South
east were shrinking from a production
Of about 10000 bales to $4,000 or 10000.
With such demonstrations before the
Southern farmers one would think that
all the area would turn to growing the
quality crop. The reason why 1t has
not is simple. In the first place, grow
ing staple cotton is an agricultural
speciality in which only those farmers
can succeed who pay close attention to
seed will deteriorate within few years
with the treatment the average farmer
gives 1t, and If the cotton Is not care
fully ginned it is ruined.
Not an Easy Trick TO Do.
Only the farmer who knows how can
turn the trick. After century OF rails
ing cotton most Southern farmers don't
really know how to grow it well.
The textile mills bear share In the
respons bility for the failure OF the
farmers to improve their methods, It Is
said in Dixie' Many mill owners, 1t Is
charged, do not know good cotton from
bad. Many more refuse to pay pre-
miums for a good raw material, and by
help make all bad.
wherever in the Southeast one sees
little area growing high-grade cotton
and obtaining premium for 1t one can
trace that phenomenon back to the. in
terest of a few community leaders,
usually aroused by one zealot. Such
men, scattered through this region. are
fighting hard today to save Southeast
ern cotton growing. They stimulate
quality production by staging five-acre
growing contests. They crusade persist
emily through the entire industry from
grower to mill to obtain the co-opera-
ton of every one concerned. The best
they can do at present Is to stave on
disaster while education lifts the In
telligence of the tenant and cropper,
and demonstrations convince the mass
of growers that quality pays.
The growers corporations are helping,
in more WAYS than In teaching high
grade production. They "class" the cot
ton for their members and, according
to J. E. Conwell, president OF the
Georgia Cotton Growers Cooperative,
not one grower In 10000 can class his
own product and tell to what grade 1t
belongs.
They warehouse their members prod
uct on q larger scale and obtain insur-
ance for it at far lower cost than ind1-
viduals have to pay. They buy fertilizer
| Ior THEIR mehOcIs, paying SooA ~
large quantities, thereby saving large
sums by getting discounts. They borrow
money for members who have demon
strable needs and good security at rates
the individuals could not obtain II Dor
rowing alone.
The Southeast Is not going to let its
cotton culture decline without strug-
gle. It's task is to produce uniformly
and dependably better grade than the
West and the Orient and to obtain
premium for 1t. II the region can't do
that, its leaders admit, it is going
under.