The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1896-10-03
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE COTTON PLANT.
what Progressive Farming Has Done tn
Improve 1t.


The difference in the results of good
and bad cotton growing is not SO ap
parent in the quality of the cotton
shipped to market as in the Weld pc,
acre, and one must visit the fields in
order TO see what progressive agricui.
lure mas accomplished in half a cen.
fury, and not judge from a hasty ex.
AMIN alton of the bales In the city.
ihere is as much difference between
tne improved cotton plants of to-day,
on winch The number of bolls rivals
'nat OF the leaves, and the long-joint-
cd struggling varieties grown 30 years
ago as there is between the native
iexan steer and the well-bred short
MORN The contrast between these ex-
IRENE types of cotton plants is made
very plain often by the proximity of
'"o plantations, on one of which pro-
eressive, advanced agriculture is pur-
sted, and on the other the-old plod
ding, neglectful methods are still OBJ.
served. There is no plant more at.
iected by its environments than the
cotton plant, and the ease with which
IL responds to good culture and inn
proved methods is only eauaIed bv it's
'enuency to retrograde when neglect
Gu. Even the best varieties of to-day
'nat have been produced by long
years OF careful culture will quickly
eegenerate into poor, struggling, long
Jointed plants If good culture is not
given To them, and in three genera
IONS they will reach the point where
'neir ancestors started half a century
ago.
Only the potato and tomato have
SHOWN the marked improvement
through judicious selection, high feed
.ng and cultivation, that has cbarac-
terized the development of the cotton
piant. There Is no better time to mo-
t,ce this difference than to-day, when
the cotton fields are opening their
putty bolls for the harvesters. and If
one by chance can run across a renre-
sentative of the old 'peeler" type or
variety and contrast it with the mod
ern peerless" he will understand bet
Ter than words can explain what pro-
gresslve agriculture has done for cot
ton IN 5Oyears. The old 'speeler. VA
rlety is now wild scrawny plant.
win comparatively few bolls of cot
ton opening on the ends of unpainlv-
looking branches, while the "peer-
Aess is a compact, thickly-growinp.
sym metrical bush, with bolls of cot
ION scattered so freely over 1t that at
a distance it looks almost like a mass
or white snow. The yield from this is
naturally several times greater than
from the former, and it takes no more
FERTILIZER to produce it than the old |
variety.
The work of improving the cotton
plant has been going on actively for
many years, and the progressive grow
ers have no idea that the limit is
reached to-day. The seeds from the
cotton plant reproduce types quite
similar TO the parent stock, but as
there Is always wide difference be-
tween the best and poorest bolls on n
single plant, there is always the pos
sibility OF producing types that are far
below or above the standard. If these
mixed seeds are used for the next sea-
sons planting the crop of cotton is ant
20 nave great many inferior prod
acts, but If the seeds from the best
DOLLS only are selected for planting.
here is an apparent improvement in
The plants. This has been the secret
u getting good cotton crop. and it
vas the hrst and continuous step to-
wards the improvement of types.
The other important agency in i'm
proving the varieties of cotton plants
vas superior cultivation. According
o the old system the plants were al
owed to grow so close together that
hey could not reach normal develop-
nent. They are now planted far
nough apart to give them plenty of
DOM, and each individual plant is con-
equently made more perfect. The
'hysical conditin of the soil was
tudied SO that the plants in time had
he best possible shance of growing to
erfection. After quarter of a CEN
ury of study and experience the best
begin to understand
low to feed both the soil and the
lants, to keep the former from depen-
rating and the latter from starving.
Ill the physical and chemical condi-
IONS favorable to the growth of the
lants are supplied on the best plsnta-
Ions, and the ever-watchful eye of the
irmer detects any variations in the
ypes which may lead to further inn
rovement of the varities by selection.
All of these improvements of the cot
IN plant, however, did not effect the
Der of the cotton to any extent. and G
ne cultivators had to employ other Il
gencies to accomplish this result. The u
lants were improved in form, and
leir productiveness more than Q
Dubbed. Then the upland short-sta- b
10 species. Gossypium herbacenm, t
as hytridized with the long staple or
"a Island, G. barbadense, and the b
myth and fineness of the staple great n
increased. This improvement was c
at slight reduction in the n