gal/din 233 ' Cotton Planting Seed ' and ' Related Fiber Qualities M24 /956 TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION R. D. LEWIS. D I R E c T OR. C o L L E GE S TTTT ON, TEXAS SUMMARY This bulletin gives the results 0f a study eenducted 0n the procurement and distribution of co planting seed in Texas. Cottonseed oil mills and eotton gins are the growers’ principal sourc‘ planting seed in several ef the major eetten growing areas. The oil mills are the wholesalers; the 1r are the retailers. The quality of the cotton produeed eaeh year cannot be maintained without a1 Bendable sellfee 0f high quality Planting see‘ - The quality of the fiber produced by each of the p ' pal varietal types in th-e four areas also is included. e Data on sales of cotton planting seed were Obtained from ginners and retail seed dealers in j Blackland Prairie area, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the Upper Gulf Coast and the Rolling P ._ areas- Quality data 0n length, fineness, strength and spinning are from the 1951, 1954 and 1955 c ~ It is estimated that 85 percent of the cottonseed planted in the Lower Rio Grande Valley inl was registered and certified. This is a higher proportion of quality planting seed than in any_ of ; other areas surve-yed. Growers obtained planting seed in this area at prices below those prevallin the oth-er areas. The principal varieties planted are Deltapine types. Two-thirds of the planting :_ came from outside Texas. Volume of seed sold was much higher (73,089 hundredweight) and p p lower than in the other areas. 1 More than 90 percent of the seed sold by the dealers contacted in the Upper Gulf Coast w Deltapine types. Prices paid by growers in this area were higher than for similar types and qu of planting seed sold in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Sales volume was much lower (10,986 hund weight). Seed sources were similar to those of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. , Lankart, the leading variety grown in the Blackland and Rolling Plains areas, has fiber that finer and not as strong as some of th-e competing types, but the bolls are storm resistant and_ _ adapted to hand pulling and machine stripping than those of other adapted types. The prices paid, growers were higher than those prevailing in the Upper Gulf Coast and Lower Rio Grande V _ These higher prices probably are related to lack of availability of large supplies of out-of-state see adapted varieties. Volume sold by 113 retailers in the two areas was 47,383 hun-dredweight. f Fiber produced in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1951 from Deltapine types was acceptabl domestic mills. Dryland fiber was shorter, finer and stronger than fiber from the irrigated land; _ th-e dryland fiber processed into yarn equal in strength to that made from the longer, coarser and =1; er irrigated fiber. This was possible because more of the shorter, finer and stronger fibers are p w‘, into a bundle, thereby offsetting the lack of individual fiber length. Fiber of the 1955 crop produced in the Upper Gulf Coast from Deltapine-type seed was coa than that produced from the same type of seed in 1954. Fiber length ranged from 31/32 to 1-3 inches. CONTENTS Summary_- ____ __ Introduction __________________________________________________________________________ _. Reasons for Varietal Preferences ____________________________ _- _ - .................................. _- { Low-er Rio Grande Valley _ .......................... _- i Source of Cotton Planting Seed ___________________________________________________________________________ Prices Paid by Growers _________________________________________________________________________________________ --@ Fiber Properties and Spinning Quality _______________________ .. - - -- Fiber Properties of Deltapine-” - ...................................................................... -., Mill Preference, Length and Fin-eness __________________________ __ i Quality of Texas-produced Deltapine Fiber _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ . . _ . _ _ . . _ . _ _ . . _ . . _ _ . _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - -- Lint-cleaned Fiber .- ________________________________ ___ Contributions of Quality Planting Seed _ , _ _ _ _ _ . . . . . . 1 _ . _ . _ . . _ _ . . _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ . . Upper Gulf Coast- _ _- . ................................. -; Sales of Cotton Planting Seed _____________________________ -1 _ .................................. -4 Source of Cotton Planting Seed _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __, Prices Paid by Growers ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fiber Properties and Spinning Quality” .- .................................... --_; Brazos River Valley -_ _________ 1 -_ _ ~ Blackland Prairie ____ _- __ __ ___________________________________________________________________ Sales of Cotton Planting Seed, 1953 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___1 Sourc-e of Cotton Planting Seed, 1953 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Prices Paid by Growers." ____________________________________________________________________________ __ Fiber Properties and Spinning Quality ________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Rolling Plains—Edwards Plateau ______________________________________ __ _ __________________________________ -. Sales by Variety, Type and Kind of Seed--- - - ___________________________________ Source of Cotton Planting Seed _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Prices Paid by Growers ________________________________________________ __ __ ___________________ ,j_ __________ __‘_ Fiber Properties _____________________________________________________________________________ __ . Acknowledgments _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __ g flOTTONSEED OIL MILLS AND COTTON GINS are the growers’ principal source of planting seed -‘ several of the major cotton-growing areas of g exas. The oil mills are the wholesalers; the gins 4 e the retailers. The quality of the cotton pro- duced each year cannot be maintained without a dependable source of high quality planting seed. The experiment reported in this bulletin first vered only the procurement and distribution of tton planting seed. Later the study was ex- panded to include the fiber properties and spinning performance of the lint produced from the prin- 'pal types of cotton planting seed. Emphasis is ntered on fiber fineness and tensile strength. ese quality factors are becoming increasingly portant in the marketing and processing of itton. In effect, they are a refinement of and I addition to grade and staple. Mill preference is now for medium staple fi- r (31/32 through 1-3/32 inches) and for fine- ess from 3.8 to 5.0 micrograms per inch. Fiber ;nsile strength of 78,000 pounds or more per iuare inch also is desired. However, cottons of wer length, fineness and strength can be sold. e price must be at a level which permits sale the fabric at a profit. The government loan i» middling 7/8 inch is, in effect, the minimum f» ice for this quality. Processing efficiency is i‘ eater on the higher quality fiber with fewer ‘elays in spinning and weaving. Hourly wage lites are similar. A higher standard of living vs brought about an increased consumption of ti» high quality cotton fabrics. Some of the lower _' ality fabrics must compete with paper products. Shorter, finer, stronger fiber can be subsitut- .0 successfully for 1-1/32 or longer staples that e somewhat weaker, but such replacement is u ited to a maximum length difference of one- ixteenth of an inch. It is not always possible to btain an adequate supply of the shorter, stronger "ber to replace the longer, weaker fiber. r A recent U. S. Department of Agriculture pub- ‘cation, “Better Cottons,” states that variety : the most important single factor in determining ber properties and spinning qualities of a cotton. is bulletin presents information on the fiber "roperties of the leading types of cotton grown a. each of four areas shown in Figure 1. This espectively, assistant professor and professor, Depart- ent of Agricultural Economics and Sociology, College tion, Texas. a coztrozv PLANTING SEED A ND RELA TED o FIBER QUALITIES‘ J. M. WARD and W. E. PAULiSONii * may assist Texas growers in selecting the types of cotton planting seed that will help them to pro- duce the quality of fiber now wanted by the mills. Most of our competing areas now produce cotton of the length and fineness preferred by domestic and foreign mills. Where soil and climate per- mit, it would benefit Texas cotton growers to pro- duce more fiber of the qualities now consumed in greatest volume. Irrigation of cotton is becoming more wide- spread in several sections of Texas. Where avail- able, data are included. on the relative quality of irrigated and dryland cottons produced in the the same area. Data on variety, volume, type and kind of seed merchandised were obtained from 66 seed retailers in the Blackland Prairie area in 1953. Data were obtained in 1954 from 33 gins in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 25 retailers in the Upper Gulf Coast area and 47 retailers in the Rolling Plains area. Fiber property and spinning performance data were obtained from samples gathered by project personnel in 1951 and 1955, and from U. S. Department of Agriculture data of the 1954 and 1955 crops. Figure l. Production areas in which schedules of cot- ton planting seed sales were obtained. These areas. ac- cording to Bulletin 788, “Performance oi Cotton Varieties in Texas. 1951-53." are: l, Lower Rio Grande Valley; 3, Upper Gulf Coast; 5. Blackland Prairie and Central Texas; 7. Rolling Plains and Edwards Plateau. 3 TABLE 1. SALES OF COTTON PLANTING SEED BY 33 GINS. LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 19541 Registered Certified . Not . Not T°1a1 Delinted delinted Delinted delinted — — — — —- Percent — — — — — Deltapine types 18.0 3.9 68.5 9.6 100.0 Stoneville typesz 10.1 .9 70.7 18.3 100.0 Other types3 71.8 4.4 19.1 4.7 100.0 lNumber of cwt. ot Deltapine types. 50.113; Stoneville types. 15.876.- and other types. 7.100. Zlncludes Delios and Empire. 3Inc1udes Rowden. Mebane. Lankart and Northern Star. The wide range in climate in Texas does not justify analysis of the data 0n a statewide basis. Each of the four areas will be discussed sepa- rately. REASONS FOR VARIETAL PREFERENCES Reasons for varietal preference are: yield, adaptation to prevailing harvesting practices, fi- ber properties, disease resistance, earliness of maturity, boll and plant characters, foundation seed supply and preference by farmers. Yield in pounds of lint cotton per acre usually is given highest priority in selecting the varieties to be planted. Indirectly, yield often includes oth- er factors such as disease resistance and earliness of maturity. Adaptation to prevailing harvesting practices now ranks first in several areas. LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY It is reported that 25 percent of the cotton seed planted in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1956 was registered. This type of seed is pro- duced from block seed which have been carefully selected to maintain the desirable varietal char- acteristics. It is estimated that 60 percent of the Valley planting seed in 1956 was certified. Certi- fied seed are second generation registered seed carefully‘ handled so as to prevent mixing in the field and gin. The remaining acreage is planted to Valley gin-run seed. A Valley ginner contacted recently reported only one customer who saved planting seed from his 1955 crop. The Lower Rio Grande Valley cotton crop is exposed to damage by the pink boll worm. As a precautionary measure, all seed must be sterilized at the gins. Experience has indicated that unless seed treated in this manner are cooled by spread- TABLE 2. SOURCE OF COTTON PLANTING SEED. 33 GINS. LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 19541 ing or turning soon after heating, the germina» is impaired. The ginning season is short with ' i siderable volume concentrated in a 50 to 60 k period. Growers are under pressure to harv the crop quickly and have little opportunity to p serve the germination potential of the seed. t oil mill price for seed is usually attractive. growers, therefore, depend on. outside sources "L planting seed. A Gins in this area were contacted early 1954. The leading type of planting seed sold Deltapine. It comprised two-thirds of the to t one-fourth was of the Stoneville types and r remainder other varieties. Data of the U. S. l partment of Agriculture indicated no signifi :_ change in the distribution of varieties planted‘ 1955. More than two-thirds of the planting -.. of the Deltapine and Stoneville types sold by cooperating gins was certified and delinted (Ta 1). Delinted seed also made up the major porti“ of the registered seed sold. Source of Cotton Planting Seed The two dominant varieties of cotton grown 1 the Lower Rio Grande Valley originated in t Mississippi Valley. Analysis of the data from 5f 1954 sales of the 33 sample gins indicated t A approximately 70 percent of the Deltapine .1 Stoneville-type seed came from outside the Sta ' The remainder came from Texas seed breed and a planting seed association. Oil mills b ij in the major portion of the seed and distrib them to growers through the gins (Table 2). ‘i trend toward this type of procurement is incr ing. The oil mills buy in volume based on i5. mum freight rates. Seed are distributed to gins when and in the amounts desired. A 1' {f of credit is available. This method has proved é be efficient and satisfactory. t c Prices Paid by Growers . The 100-pound sack was the most comm, unit of sales to growers; therefore, all units we converted to this measure. Growers who obtain seed from the 33 gins during the 1954 planti season paid an average of $7.69 per sack for =’ tified delinted Deltapine (Table 3). The ginne margin was $1.00 Records of one Texas bree reveal that prices in the 1954 planting season w' the lowest in recent years. Prices were at a u‘ what lower level early in the 1956 planting seas In another area in which the types grown j ' similar to those planted in the Valley, the p l paid by growers in 1954 was $1.85 per sack hi__ ' Source y. T - Total Ypes Texas Out of state Total Breeder Oil mill Pgasgggifigid Other a Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent . Deltapine 30.9 69.1 100.0 23.4 54.3 19.6 2.7 100.0 Stoneville 27.5 72.5 100.0 15.6 83.5 — .9 . 100.0 3 lNumber of cwt. of Deltapine types, 50.113: Stoneville types. 15.876: and other types. 7.100. 4 I otal " . The types and quality were the same. y- BLE 3. PURCHASE AND SALES PRICE PER HUNDREDWEIGHT BY GINS, LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 1954 TYPE AND KIND OF PLANTING SEED. 33 COTTON Delinted Not delinted Types Price per cwt. Amount in cwts. Price per cwt. Amount in cwts. Purchased _ Sold Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Purchased Sold ._ Dollars Dollars Number Number Dollars Dollars Number Number eltapine. reg. 8.08 8.89 9.035 9.035 6.35 6.45 1.972 1.972 eltapine. cert. 6.69 7.69 34.282 34.282 6.80 7.63 4.824 4.824 toneville. reg. 10.42 11.56 1.595 1.595 9.10 9.73 115 115 a toneville, cert. 6.31 6.89 11.239 11.239 7.00 8.14 2.927 2.927 V.» er. reg. 8.91 9.95 5.095 5.095 10.55 11.75 312 312 5° er. cert. 9.03 10.13 1.358 1.358 9.27 11.22 355 335 62.604 62.604 10.505 10.485 _ The i; rge annual volume of planting seed sales by Low- ‘gr Rio Grande Valley ginners at a narrow margin ‘qccounts for this favorable price situation. iber Properties and Spinning Quality In more recent years, fineness is a quality fac- 5tor of increasing importance in the marketing and processing of cotton. Fineness is weight per lin- ~oear inch. Fine fibers have a lower weight per éfich; coarse fibers have a greater weight. Fine- Jess information on each bale is of significance I the processor of the cotton fiber. If fibers of i: wide range in fineness are mixed in the mill, rocessing delays usually occur. The yarn pro- “uced also is of lower quality. Fine to very fine 'ber in the short and medium staple lengths may dicate immaturity and possible future process- lg difficulties. Few mills now attempt to proc- cotton without fineness data on each bale. e mixing of fiber from bales of a relatively arrow range in fineness has given mills increas- ’ f» operating efficiency and a more uniform prod- _* ct. Purchases based on fineness specifications - void cotton not adapted to mill requirements. p. his method of procurement justifies the addi- 'onal cost. er Properties of Deltapine I Cotton fibers of the Deltapine types may range f?“ fineness from 3.0 to 5.2 micrograms per inch weight. This range is due to variations in vailable moisture and temperature and light in- j nsity during the growing season. Most of the ber produced from Deltapine varies from 3.5 4.6 micrograms per inch in fineness. Preference. Length and Fineness Mill preference is now for medium staple fi- ,~- 1-1/32 through 1-3/32 inches, and for fine- ess from 3.8 to 5.0. The demand for cotton fiber f these qualities has increased materially in the i st 20 years. The demand for lengths below 1 f1 and above 1-3/32 inches has decreased sub- j: antially. uality of Texas-produced Deltapine Fiber With average amount and distribution of rain- fl; ll, most of the fiber produced from Deltapine y ~ es in Texas conforms to prevailing mill quality f ndards. The data in Table 4 indicate that much of the fiber produced from the Deltapine types in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1951 was acceptable to American mills. This was the largest crop in the history of the Valley. Almost six-tenths of the irrigated samples were in the fineness range of 4.0 to 4.6. Near the same proportion of the dry- land samples were in the same group. Most of the remaining irrigated samples were in the fine- ness group, 4.7 to 5.0 Approximately one-third of the dryland samples ranged from 3.6 to 3.9 in fineness. The latter ranged from 84,000 to 87,000 pounds per square inch in tensile strength. The irrigated samples in the fineness group higher than 4.6 had a tensile strength. range of 78,000 to 83,000 pounds per square inch. More than half of these samples were in the lower segment of TABLE 4. FINENESS, LENGTH AND TENSILE STRENGTH OF MID-SEASON COTTONS. DELTAPINE TYPES. LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 1951‘ Average length“ Average strength’ Tests 52151561’ Irri- Dry- Irri- Dry- Irri- Dry- gated land gated land gated land Micro- 1.000 lb. 1.000 lb. grams Inches Inches per sq. per sq. Nag“ Nag? per inch inch inch 3.5 1.01 82.3 2 3.6 .98 86.9 1 3.7 3.8 1.01 .98 88.5 84.1 1 4 3.9 1.02 1.02 82.6 86.2 1 6 4.0 1.08 1.03 81.5 84.8 2 6 4.1 1.06 85.8 5 4.2 1.07 1.05 85.6 84.6 3 4 4.3 1.05 83.9 6 4.4 1.03 1.05 79.9 84.2 1 2 4.5 1.05 1.05 82.2 86.2 9 3 4.6 1.02 .95 83.4 87.5 12 1 4.7 1.02 80.8 l1 4.8 1.05 1.08 83.5 88.0 6 1 4.9 1.01 77.7 2 5.0 1.07 78.8 1 Total 57 33 ‘Source: Cotton Research Committee oi Texas. “Fiber fineness is linear density expressed in terms of micro- grams per inch.- 3.0 to 3.9 is fine. 4.0 to 4.9 average. 5.0 to 5.9 coarse and 6.0 and above very coarse. sExpressed in terms of the upper-half-mean which is the average length of the longest half of the fiber by weight. This corresponds closely to staple length as determined by classers. .99-1.02 equals 1 inch. 1.03-1.05 equals 1-1/32 inches and 1.06 to 1.08 equals 1-2/32 inches. ‘Fiber strength is the force in 1.000 pounds required to break the equivalent of a surface area oi 1 square inch cal- culated from Pressley Index. 86 to 95 is strong. 76 to 85 average. 66 to 75 is iair and 65 or less is weak. 5 TABLE 5. LENGTH, FINENESS AND TENSILE STRENGTH .OF DELTAPINE COTTONS, LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. EARLY, MID-SEASON AND LATE. 1955’ Ginning Average . Average period Tests length Fmeness strength Mzssszr ..1.'22:::.. Early 4 1.04 4.6 78 Mid-season 4 1.03 4.2 79 Late 4 1.03 4.2 78 1Source: U. S. Department oi Agriculture. this tensile strength group. The finer, stronger, shorter, dryland cottons in the 3.6 t0 3.9 fineness group can be processed into yarn equal in strength to that spun from the longer, coarser, Weaker, ir- rigated cotton of the 4.7 to 5.0 fineness group. J. F. Hembree of Cotton Merchandising Research of the University of Texas has found that yarn strength is a complex of all fiber properties. The somewhat lower length of the dryland fiber is offset by the fiber being finer and stronger. This makes it possible to pack more fibers in a bundle, thereby offsetting the lack of individual fiber length. These fine cottons should not be mixed with coarse-fibered cottons when processed. The finer fibers of the dryland samples are probably related to a retarded period of fiber de- velopment. This could have resulted from inade- quate moisture and high temperatures during part of the growing season. The data show that the irrigated growths were coarser and longer than the dryland, but that the latter had higher ten- sile strength. Each processed into 22’s yarn of similar strength and appearance. According to a recent U. S. Department of Agriculture publication, yarn strength is perhaps the most important and reliable test of yarn quality. A large crop was again produced in 1954. Mid- season Deltapine cottons were somewhat lower in Figure 2. Processing and storage facilities oi a cotton planting seed organization. Association. Bryan. Texas. 6 TABLE 6. SALES OF COTTON PLANTING SEED BY’? GINS AND 6 SEED STORES. UPPER G COAST. 19541 p, . Registered Certified l TYPes . Not . Not T“, Dehnted delinted Delrnted delinted t — — — — — Percent — — — —jg Deltapine 32.8 67.2 100 Stoneville 7.6 4.2 88.2 100 Other 42.6 32.1 20.1 5.2 10 lNumber oi cwt. oi Deltapine types, 10.209; Stoneville ti 354; and other types. 423. ' tensile strength but similar in fineness to 1 growths of the same types. Mid-season gro of the Deltapine types produced in 1955 were fit and weaker than in 1951 but similar to 1954 c tons (Table 5) . Lint-cleaned Fiber Many of the 1951 samples were procesf through saw-type lint cleaners at the gin. In s i instances, as fiber properties were comparable, significant differences were evident in the q i ity of the yarn processed from lint-cleaned the uncleaned fiber. Contributions oi Quality Planting Seed It is reasonable to assume that good qua planting seed contribute materially to the ex, lent character and staple of Lower Rio Gra Valley cotton each year. Fortunately for Va growers there is an ample supply of planting s of the desired types readily available from outs' sources. Several of the Texas breeders prod Deltapine seed in addition to their own varieti A Texas planting seed cooperative produces an erage of 1,600 tons of Deltapine types annua Most of this is marketed in the Lower Rio n: Valley and Upper Gulf Coast area. These sour Courtesy oi Texas Planting SOURCE OF COTTON PLANTING SEED, 15 GINS isms 1. AND s seen sronss, UPPER surr COAST, 19541 Source Pl t- TYPQ out Breeder i3: Total Texas ot Total Breeder A em Seed state ' g asgn. — — — — — Percent — — — — — l eltapine 23.8 76.2 100.0 41.6 34.9 23.5 100.0 Number of cwt. oi Deltapine types, 10,209,‘ Stoneville types. ‘ f354: and other types, 423. re usually inadequate to supply the planting seed needs of the two areas. A large amount of Delta- ine planting seed is moved into Texas each year from the Mississippi Delta. Frequently the sup- ply available is abundant. This results in lower prices for Deltapine planting seed. UPPER GULF COAST Fifteen cotton gins and 7 seed stores distrib- ilting cotton planting seed to growers were con- tacted early in the 1954 planting season. All were ocated in Wharton, Matagorda, Brazoria and ackson counties. Most of the seed distributed ere of the Deltapine types. The remainder con- isted of several other types. U. S. Department of griculture data obtained annually from cotton 'nners, seed breeders and dealers and county gents indicated a similar distribution of types. 0 significant change was apparent in 1955. . The Brazos River Valley in. Brazos, Burleson d Robertson counties is planted almost exclu- ively to the Deltapine type. Data on volume of .ed sold were not available. Because of the sim- parity in variety planted and quality of lint pro- uced, quality data on this area are included with (hose of the Upper Gulf Coast. i» es oi Cotton Planting Seed = More than 90 percent of the seed distributed y the dealers contacted in 1954 was of the Delta- ine types. All of this was delinted; one-third was egistered, the remainder certified (Table 6). me of the seed retailers take orders from grow- rs and also keep additional seed available. (bthers timate probable sales and stock seed accordingly. ales per distributor were much lower than in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Figure 3. Sacking and storing cotton planting seed. Courtesy of Texas Planting Seed Association, Bryan, Texas. Source oi Cotton Planting Seed One-fourth of the Deltapine-type seed sold by the retailers contacted was produced in Texas. The remainder was from sources in other states (Table 7). The leading type grown in this area is produced in volume in several states in the Miss- issippi Delta. An ample supply of out-of-state seed is usually available. Occasionally adverse growing conditions curtail the volume of planting seed produced by these out-of-state sources. Three-fourths of the seed was moved to retailers by breeders or through their agents. The remain- ing portion was supplied by a planting seed association (Table 7 ). Prices Paid by Growers Growers of the area paid distributors an av- erage of $9.56 per hundred pounds of delinted cer- tified Deltapine seed in 1954. Delinted registered seed of the same type were sold for $10.72 per 100-pound sack (Table 8). The volume sold is ABLE 8. PURCHASE AND SALES PRICE PER HUNDREDWEIGHT. BY TYPE AND KIND OF PLANTING SEED, 15 COTTON GINS AND 6 SEED STORES, UPPER GULF COAST. 1954 Delinted Not delinted Types Price per cwt. Amount in cwts. Price per cwt. Amount in cwts. Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Dollars Dollars Number Number Dollars Dollars Number Number eltapine. reg. 10.62 10.72 3,350 3.350 A ltapine, cert. 9.30 9.56 6,859 6,859 oneville, reg. 10.55 10.81 27 27 11.00 11.50 15 15 toneville, cert. 10.62 10.28 313 312 er, reg. 9.00 9.62 180 180 11.25 11.71 140 136 y er, cert. 10.48 10.72 85 85 10.00 10.50 22 22 total 10,814 10.813 177 173 Figure 4. Cleaning and sacking cotton planting seed. Courtesy of Northern Star Seed Farms, O'Brien. Texas. not as large as in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This results in higher prices at the wholesale level, also greater handling charges. Fiber Properties and Spinning Quality Thirteen spinning tests were obtained from 9 locations of the Upper Gulf Coast during the mid- dle of the 1955 ginning season. All this cotton was Deltapine. Fineness, length and tensile strength data are shown in Table 9. Slightly more than half the samples tested were in the average fine- ness group. Only one was in the fine group. The cotton fiber of 1955 was coarser than the fiber of the same variety produced in the area in 1954. There was no significant difference in tensile strength. Yarn appearance was similar in each of the 2 years, but 22’s yarn was 5,000 to 7,000 pounds stronger in 1954. Figure 5. Cotton planting seed coming through a de- linting stand. Courtesy oi Northern Star Seed Company. O'Brien. Texas. 8 TABLE 9. FINENESS, LENGTH AND TENSILE STREN OF MID-SEASON COTTONS. DELTAPINE UPPER GULF COAST. 19551 Fineness 1:33:36 gzzltgg: Tests t‘ s Inches finger Number 3.9 1.01 81.9 1 4.2 1.10 77.6 1 4.6 1.05 85.7 1 4.8 .99 82.4 2 4.9 1.03 77.9 3 5.0 1.00 84.0 1 5.1 1.04 80.8 1 5.2 1.12 78.4 1 5.3 1.04 79.5 2 Tot l3 lProject field samples processed by tgfixtile Engines Department, Texas Technological College. Lubbock. Te Fiber length was in the qualities in grea demand. This area usually produces a high q ity cotton that is acceptable to domestic mills; Brazos River Valley . i Seventeen spinning test samples were obtai in the Brazos River Valley during the 1955 son; all were Deltapine types. Seven of the were from irrigated land; 10 were produced ; dryland. Fineness, length and tensile stren of the samples tested are shown in Table Eight of the 10 dryland tests were 3.7 or hig, in fineness. All the samples of irrigated v; were 4.0 or higher. Tensile strength of the y‘ land tests averaged significantly higher (5, pounds per square inch). The strength of . yarn processed from the dryland cotton also ~ significantly higher. The finer, stronger, sho dryland fiber produced the strongest yarn. " BLACKLAND PRAIRIE Retail seed dealers were contacted in C0 Dallas, Lamar and Limestone counties du June 1953. Fifty-eight gins, 4 feed and TABLE l0. FINENESS, LENGTH AND TENSILE STREN OF IRRIGATED AND DRYLAND COTTONS. I.’ TAPINE TYPES. BRAZOS VALLEY. 19551 l F Average length Average strength Tests; 1ne- . ness Irri- Dry- Irri- Dry- Irri- I ‘ gated land gated land gated Micro- 1,000 lb. 1,000 lb. Num_ N grams Inches Inches per sq. per sq. her " per inch inch inch 3.2 .94 90.2 3.6 .95 t 78.7 3.7 .91 84.9 3.8 .97 78.8 4.0 1.07 .94 75.0 85.2 1 4.1 1.04 74.9 l 4.2 1.08 77.3 4.3 .97 81.7 4.4 1.04 1.02 78.8 84.0 1 4.6 .99 78.0 l 4.7 1.04 86.5 4.8 1.01 . 76.0 1 4.9 .98 80.5 1 5.0 1.04 80.9 l Total 7 . lProject samples processed by the Textile Engineering}; partment. Texas Technological College, Lubbock. Tex__ TABLE 11. SALES OF COTTON PLANTING SEED BY 66 RETAILERS, BLACKLAND PRAIRIE. 1953 . Registered Certified Second year 6. mixed Types p A Total Delinted Not delinted Delinted Not delinted Delinted Not delinted 5 — — — — — — — — — — — Percent — — — — — — — — — — — — enl - 0.9 2.0 42.0 1.2 47.0 100.0 1 — 9.3 1.9 55.6 — 33 2 100 0 _- rn Star — 11.8 5.7 58.3 — 24.2 100.0 ~ ine 6.7 17.2 20.1 26.5 — 29.5 100.0 = .9 4.1 13.5 42.9 — 38.6 100.0 * es and 4 seed salesmen made data available. ' y-seven percent of the seed sold was of the den types and 30 percent of the Mebane types ‘luding Mebane, Qualla, Lockett 140 and West- Prolific). Several types made up the remain- portion. ‘Surveys by the U. S. Department of Agricul- indicated that in 1955 one-third of the cotton p» planted in this area was Lankart, 29 percent A e Mebane types and 20 percent Rowden. The 1» rt boll is storm resistant. This is a special ; type in which the locks are held closely in Ii a which open only partially and remain intact re and during the machine stripping or hand (‘ng operation. These desirable properties of -resistant cottons are not characteristic of normal or “open boll” cottons. The locks of j open boll cottons tend to string out and fall ‘g the stripping operation. H = oi Cotton Planting Seed. 1953 Non-delinted seed is the principal kind sold e Blackland area. Ninety-six percent of the den seed distributed in 1953 was not delinted. ety-eight percent of the Mebane types also . non-delinted (Table 11). Certified, second I‘ and gin-run seed made up most of the total me sold. ~ce oi Cotton Planting Seed. 1953 ight-tenths of the Rowden seed sold was uced in Texas. Most of the remainder was 0.. Arkansas. Nearly all of the Mebane types ' - produced in Texas (Table 12). l eed of the certified and registered grade were i» 'buted to retail outlets by the breeders; 38 ~ ent of the Rowden and 50 percent of the Me- e types moved in this manner. Gins were the p: ce of 52 percent of the Rowden and 31 percent he Mebane. The production of planting seed growers who plant registered or certified seed F common practice in this area. The seed cot- I» er oi cwt. oi Rowden. 17.336: Mebane. 11.189: Northern Star. 1.969: Deltapine. 2.446; others. 4.206. ton produced is handled carefully when ginned to prevent mixing of the seed with that of cotton ginned previously. _ This second generation seed is known as “second year.” Cotton gins often stock and sell this type of planting seed. Prices Paid by Growers The breeder and largest distributor of cotton planting seed in this area recently stated that the price of his seed had not been changed during the past 5 years. Another large distributor in the area has had one change in price in a like period. This was for seed‘ to be planted in 1956. The prices quoted in Table 13 are those re- ceived by the cooperating retailers in the 1953 planting season. They are similar to the prices quoted for the past 5 years by the two distributors mentioned. The prices paid for cotton planting seed by growers in this area are higher than those paid by growers in the Upper Gulf Coast and Low- er Rio Grande Valley. This applies to adapted varieties of similar type and kind of seed. The greatest difference is in the prices paid for de- linted seed. This kind of seed when used in the South Texas area usually is mechanically delinted. Much of that sold in the Blackland area is acid delinted. Such seed usually are packed in 50- pound bags. The lower prices paid by Upper Gulf and Lower Rio Grande Valley growers are prob- ably related to the availability of large supplies of out-of-state seed of adapted varieties. Fiber Properties and Spinning Quality Lankart is now the leading variety grown in the Blackland area. The fiber is finer and not as strong as that of Rowden (Tables 14 and 15). However, the bolls produced by Lankart are storm resistant and more adapted to hand pulling and machine stripping than the bolls of other adapted types. One-third of the area is now planted to Lankart seed. This will probably increase as stripper harvesting is more widely adapted. TABLE 12. SOURCE OF COTTON PLANTING SEED. 66 RETAILERS. BLACKLAND AREA. 1953 . Source ': Types _ TOLGI Texas Out oi state Total Breeder Gin Oil mill Other . — — — — — — — — — — Percent — — — — — — — — — — — — — l - enl 80.4 19.6 100.0 38.1 51.9 9.1 .9 100.0 99.9 .1 100.0 50.5 31.6 _ o 16.1 1 8 100.0 _-_er oi cwt. oi Rowden. 17.335; Mebane. 11.189. Fiber from machine stripped Lankhart com- pared favorably in spinning quality with hand pulled fiber of the same variety. The machine harvested and hand harvested cottons had similar fiber properties. ROLLING PLAINS—EDWARDS PLATEAU Three feed and seed stores and 44 cotton gins in the Rolling Plains area were contacted in Feb- ruary and March 1954. The information obtained applied to the 1953 planting season. Half of the t seed distributed by the cooperating retailers was of the Lankart variety, 11 percent was of the Me- bane types and 6 percent was Northern Star. The remaining one-third consisted of several types. Sales by Variety. Type and Kind of Seed Cotton planting seed sold by the cooperating retail gins and seed stores were predominantly non- delinted. Eight-tenths of the Lankart variety and nine-tenths of the Mebane types were of this kind. Half of the other types of seed sold was delinted (Table 16). Many of the sales of de- linted seed were in 50-pound bags. The price was relatively more per pound when sold in these small containers. Registered seed dominated sale of the Lankart variety seed with more than. half of this variety sold being non-delinted (registered). The sales of Mebane-type seed had 64 percent in the certi- fied grade. The planting of second-year seed by growers is a common practice in this area. Many growers produce this type of seed. It is from second gen- eration registered or certified seed cotton handled carefully to prevent mixing when ginned. Favor- able weather during the ginning season encour- ages the saving of this type of planting seed. Source of Cotton Planting Seed Nearly all of the cotton planting seed of the three leading types sold by the agencies contacted in the Rolling Plains area came from Texas sources (Table 17). Commercial seed breeders are the principal source of registered and certi- fied seed. Gins and oil mills distribute most of the second-year seed. TABLE 13. PURCHASE AND SALES PRICE PER HUNDRED- WEIGHT BY TYPE AND KIND OF PLANTING SEED. ROWDEN. NORTHERN STAR AND ME- BANE VARIETIES. BLACKLAND PRAIRIE. 195s TQNS- 1955 Delinted Not delinted Ginqing Tests Average Average 1323:5980 Types Price per cwt. Price per cwt. Pen“! length fineness strength’; Purchased Sold Purchased Sold micrograms 1 flflfl 11, Number Inches - h ' - '5 _ _ __ _ _ Dollars _ _ _ _ __ permc persqa Rowden. cert. 16.71 16.95 10.62 10.77 Earlyl 1 - .96 5.2 90 Northern Star, cert. 19.41 19.80 9.75 10.02 Early? 1 .91 5.5 84 Northern Star. 2nd yr. — — 4.77 5.07 Mid-season 1 .92 5.3 81 Mebane. reg. 16.32 16.32 10.27 11.25 Late I .93 5.5 82 Mebanel. cert. — — 9.72 10.14 llncludes Mebane, Qualla, Lockett 140 and Western Prolific. 10 TABLE 14. LENGTH, FINENESS AND TENSILE STRENW DRYLAND COTTONS. LANKART VARIE I BLACKLAND PRAIRIE. I955 i Aver 5 I Average Average u I tem Tests length fineness 5:2: q Micro- 1.000 l - Number Inches grams per sq. per inch inch I Project samples 7 .93 4.7 7B ' USDA tests 7 .92 4.7 77 j Prices Paid by Growers Non-delinted registered Lankart planting Q were sold to growers in 1953 at $9.14 per h L dred pounds (Table 18). This was below cost. T area has suffered from drouth since 1950. G' ners have been unable to sell all the seed p a chased and have reduced prices in order to mo , the seed. One of the principal sources of planti seed for the Lower Rio Grande Valley deliver delinted registered planting seed to gins in 19 for $9.45 per 100-pound sack. The price paid f» Rkolling Plains growers in 1953 compared w; a ly. <~ Fiber Properties The Rolling Plains produced 530,000 bales = cotton in 1951. Production in 1952 and 1953 w less than half that of 1951. Ginnings in 1954 we 391,000 bales. I Strength and fineness of the principal varieti” grown in 1951 are shown in Table 19. Mid-sea samples of the 1955 crop processed by the U. I Department of Agriculture indicate that fiber i the Lankart variety is similar in fineness to 19 growths but more than 5,000 pounds lower in -' sile strength. Fiber from the Northern Star and Deltapi types grown in 1955 was similar in fineness ' 1951 growths of these varieties. Tensile stren é for Northern Star in 1955 was lower but not s’ nificantly so. Tensile strength of Deltapine W significantly lower in 1955 (Table 1-9). This 1 lustrates the effects of variations in moistu temperature and light intensity as they aff‘ fiber quality. TABLE 15. LENGTH, FINENESS AND TENSILE STRENG I ROWDEN VARIETY, BLACKLAND PRAIRIE C ~ lProiect sample from Williamson county. 2U. S. Department of Agriculture data. Navarro county. 16. SALES OF COTTON PLANTING SEED BY 44 GINS AND 3 SEED STORES, ROLLING PLAINS, 19531 Registered Certified Second year 6, mixed s Total Delinted Not delinted Delinted Not delinted Delinted Not delinted — — — — — — — — — — — Percent — — — — — — — — — — — i 18.9 55.5 2.2 6.0 .7 16.7 100.0 or 27.1 19.1 4.7 23.9 — 25.2 100.0 1.3 22.4 3.4 60.8 6.7 5.4 100.0 35.2 10.7 15.0 21.1 1.7 16.3 100.0 I cwt. of Lankart, 5,992; Northern Star, 635: Mebane, 1,167," others, 2,434. ludes Mebane, Qualla, Lockett 140, Western Prolific and Marv-L-S Cluster. 17. SOURCE OF COTTON PLANTING SEED, 44 GINS AND 3 SEED STORES, ROLLING PLAINS, 19531 Source Texas Out of state Total greed“ Gin Oil mill Other Total agents — — — — — — — —-— — — — Percent —- — —- — —- — — —— — —— — 100.0 - 100.0 58.9 23.4 — 17.7 100.0 j 98.5 1.5 100.0 74.5 17.7 — 7.8 100.0 _ a: 100.0 — 100.0 31.9 43.2 24.9 — 100.0 lfcwt. of Lankart, 5.992; Mebane, 1.161.- and Northern sm. s35. if PURCHASE AND SALES PRICE PER HUNDREDWEIGHT BY TYPE AND KIND OF PLANTING SEED, LANKART AND g MEBANE VARIETIES. ROLLING PLAINS, 1953 Delinted Not delinted Price per cwt. Amount in cwts. Price per cwt. Amount in cwts. Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Purchased Sold Dollars Dollars Number Number Dollars Dollars Number Number -. 16.98 18.57 1,306 1,135 9.32 9. 5,942 3,327 y, 19.03 19.16 140 130 10.04 10.14 387 360 o4 yr. 7.00 10.00 40 40 4.50 4.50 1,000 1,000 . 10.50 12.00 50 15 9.97 10.17 263 261 y; 11.25 12.00 40 40 9.52 11.21 928 710 yr. 8.00 10.00 78 78 5.00 5.10 63 63 1,654 1,438 8,583 5,721 eludes Qualla, Lockett 140, Western Prolific and Marv-L-S Cluster. j LENGTH, FINENESS AND TENSILE STRENGTH OF DRYLAND COTTONS, EARLY AND MID-SEASON, ROLLING * PLAINS, 1951 AND 1955 Tests Average length Average fineness Average tensile strength 1951 1955 19511 19552 19511 19552 19511 19552 Micrograms Micrograms 1,000 lbs. 1,000 lbs. Number Number Inches Inches per inch per inch per sq. inch per sq. inch l_ 7 2 .94 .94 4.6 4.4 84 78 ar 10 2 .94 .94 4.5 4.3 85 83 -- 7 2 1.00 1.00 4.6 4.4 84 80 I tton Research Committee of Texas. 1U. S. Department of Agriculture. y- ACKNQWLEDGMENTS A. Briggs and Don Thompson also were active in ' the field work. i" The Texas Planting Seed Association, Bryan, eld contacts with cotton ginners and re- Texas; Lankart Seed Farm and Wacona Seed ‘ dealers were made by J. R. Campbell, Farms, Waco, Texas, contributed samples and fsociate professor, Department of Agri- price data. Cotton ginners and growers in the conomics and Sociology, who field tested areas surveyed gave lint samples for fiber and Aganized the original schedule. Charles spinning laboratory analysis. 11 State-wide Research The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station is the public agricultural research agency oi the State oi Texas. and is one oi ninil Location oi field research units in Texas main- t'dbthT A'ltl ' t Sllhntieon cirnd teioopeelirzziinggltiglenldilgs Expenmen parts Oi thé TGXGS COllGQG SYSlGIHf IN THE MAIN STATION, wit-h headquarters at College Station, are 16 subject-matter departments, 2 s departments, 5 regulatory services and the administrative staff. Located out in the major agriculturalmg, A of Texas are 21 substations and 9 field laboratories. In addition, there are 14 cooperating stations o_ by other agencies, including the Texas Forest Service, the Game and Fish Commission of Texas, T Prison System, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, University of Texas, Texas Technological College the King Ranch. Some experiments are conducted on farms and ranches and in rural homes. RESEARCH BY THE TEXAS STATION is organized by programs and projects. A program of research sents a coordinated effort to solve the many problems relating to a common objective or situation. A; search project represents the procedures for attacking a specific problem within a program. ‘E THE TEXAS sTATIoN is conducting about 350 active research projects, grouped in 25 programs which; clude all phases of agriculture in Texas. Among these are: conservation and improvement of soils; servation and use of water in agriculture; grasses and legumes for pastures, ranges, hay, conservation improvement of soils; grain crops; cotton and other fiber crops; vegetable crops; citrus and other subt cal fruits, fruits and nuts; oil ‘seed crops—other than cotton; ornamental plants—including turf; brush weeds; insects; plant diseases; beef cattle; dairy cattle; sheep and goats; swine; chickens and turkeys; i mal diseases and parasites; fish and game on farms and ranches; farm and ranch engineering; farm? ranch business; marketing agricultural products; rural home economics; and rural agricultural econo ' Two additional programs are maintenance and upkeep, and central services. RESEARCH RESULTS are carried to Texas farm and ranch owners and homemakers by specialists and col agents of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.