The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-10
FARM COMMENT
BY F. H. LETTER


King Cotton has set about repair
ing the supports to his royal throne
Various fibcrs OF all kinds have
entered into competition with the
venerable King and for a time it
seemed that his throne was totter-
ing into oblivion 1t appeared that
the one fiber which has meant so
much to the South in days past
would be supjerceded by something
out of the chemists beaker or by
the cellulose that could be secured
from pine trees and other vege-
table matter 1t is true that cotton
has. been taking beating along
with it. The old King had many
faults and few people really
understood him Many mistakes
were made in his handling and to
some he was of such princely
figure that he was worshipped with
an intensity which caused much
misery and wart in the South.
But" says Geroge Wilds, presi-
dent of the great Cocker plant
breeding establishment at Harris
Vile, South Car DINA, ''in spite of
ali of his faults. we love the old
King still. From cotton we still
derive high percentage of our
cash income ard we can point with
some pride TO an improvement in
the quality of this ruling family"
DR.. Wiids was invited to speak
at the recert celebration in Rae
| ford when the Atlantic Cotton As
ISOLATION presented the growers of
Hoke County with beautiful silver
trophy cup for having won the 1943
one-variety cotton improvement
contest in North Carolina. The
very fact he declared, that you
are having this big celebration is
concrete evidence that cotton is
still King in HcKe County and we
take much pleasure in doing him
homage
incidentally, Hoke is only one
of the many counties in North
Carolin that is seeking to re-
establish Cotton on its kingly
throne. Thil ty-one other of the cot
ion growing counties have decided
to do something about their cotton
crops. Last year. Halifax won the
trophy for fine work done in re-
establishing the crop through the
one-variety plan. Jones ranked
next to Hoke in the contest for
1943 and after Jones came Arson,
followed by Montgomer, Scotland,
Halifax, Nash, and BERTHE in the
order named. In each case, the
growers decided to work with theri
ginners and to organize around the
gin, the community or ove1. the
entire county to improve the yield
and quality of the cotton grown in
psrticular area. i.-
j. A. Shanklin, cotton expert for
the Extension Service, is authority
for. the. stateme,,. that the growers
in the one variety communities
have made inc, eased yields and
improved quality valued at S. an
acre for each acre of cotton grown
under the plan That's a very con-
sentative figure. On the 258.137
acres of cotton grown under this
plan in 1913, the 81, 495 growers
involved received an extra cash
income of 81, 400 685, 90 or an aver
age for each grower amounting to
$69.34. Better than the cash income
however, is the fact that North
Carolina cotton is again becoming
an important crop. We no longer
have to export it as we did former
ly because now its fiber is of such
uniform length, and of such high
spinning quality that it is in de-
mand at our local mills.
In 1923, a vast fiber research
program was started by the feder-
al Department of Agriculture in
cooperation with the various state
Experiment Stations and, as re-
suit, much has been learned about
cotton fibers. The next textile
school at State College plans to
continue and enlarge this i'm
portant work So that cotton can
be grown that VIII meet the needs
Of the mills for various spinning
purposes. Not everyone knows that
pound of Gotten contains about
80 million Individual fibers or that
a bale of cotton contains over As
billion fibevs. These figures show
what a person is faced with when
he undertakes to improve the fiber
OF cotton. Right here, however, is
: where the Old King is making his