Cotton Estimate

The 1924 cotton crop is now ceasing to be entirely conjecture and beginning to become history. The crop is being picked and soon the ginnery figures will begin definitely to indicate its real amount. However, the period of conjecturing and estimating is not yet over. The Department of Agriculture has announced, as its estimate for the current crop on Oct. 1, 12,499,000 bales of 500 lb. each. This is a reduction of only 97,000 from the estimate by the same source for Sept. 16. The Department was almost equally reassuring as to the condition of the crop, which as of Oct. 1 it placed at 53.5% of normal, compared with a rating of 55.4% a fortnight earlier. Very evidently, at any rate, this year's crop will considerably exceed that of 1923, which was only 10,139,671 bales.

Texas is easily the premier cotton state, with an estimated crop this year of 4,255,000 bales; next comes Oklahoma, with 1,272,000 bales; and then Georgia, with 1,118,000; Mississippi, with 1,113,000; and Arkansas, with 1,068,000. No other state promises to have a million bale crop this year, although the next state in order, Alabama, is set down for 959,000.