This collection includes notes relating to the culture of and pests affecting Chinese cotton as well as American varieties, cotton manufacturing, and the progress of cotton grown in China (24 pieces). However, the bulk of the China notes concern plantings in Nanking, Shanghai, the Wuchang Experimental Station, and elsewhere (1919, ca.200 pieces). These notes were probably prepared for a publication, but this does not seem to have been completed. There are also notes on Florida cotton, apparently wild (1926–1929, ca.60 pieces) and South American cotton (1926, ca.40 pieces), apparently from a trip taken by Cook, F. C. Baker, and J. W. Hubbard of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Hubbard spent three months in South America and the West Indies and “discovered several new types...which may have practical value...n the U.S.”

In addition, there are notes and photographs concerning wild relatives of cotton in Arizona and California, Thurberia thespesioides and Ingenhousia [sic] triloba (ca.60 pieces); notes from collecting trips to Arizona, Texas, and California (1912–1914, 1916, 1917, ca.55 pieces) for Thurberia; photographs and notes concerning Gossypium davidsonii and G. harknessi in Texas and California (1916, 1921–1922, ca.60 pieces); notes on cotton, mainly in Texas and Arizona (1916, ca.30 pieces); notes on G. erosum (17 pieces); and notes on cotton in Mexico, Florida, Arizona, and Texas (1915–1929, ca.20 pieces). The above notes include Cook’s observations and those of others, and citations from published works. Some of the notes—for example, those on the Chinese cotton plantings—have page references on them for some unknown source. Most of the notes are typewritten, although some are handwritten. In some cases, handwritten notes and their typewritten copies are both present.

For additional information on Orator Fuller Cook, see Collection 183: Letters to David Fairchild and Notes.