The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-06-21

the efficiency of several proposed rem
edies. The disease Will probably dimin-,
ish as other conditions are improved.
The increase in production that
would follow an improvement in meth
eds is very great. This may be seen
when it is known that a reasonable
crop of sea island cotton in Georgia
is $50 pounds of lint per acre, while
400 to 500 pounds have been grown on
the sea islands of South Carolina.
Nevertheless. the actual average pro-
duction was much below these fig
ures. and many fields yield only from
ten to fifty pounds Of lint per acre.
There is no question that an increase
in the cotton production can be brought
about more easily and with greater
profit by more intensive cultural meth
DDS than by an increase in the acre
age. My personal observation leads
me to believe that the production Of
sea island cotton is likely to decrease
rather than increase, unless some &C
tive steps are taken to stimulate il.
The principal factors in this decrease
will be the spread of plant diseases and
the high price Of upland cotton, which
is likely to replace sea island, espee-
tally in the border counties.
To Encourage Sea Island Growing.
The production of sea island cotton
can be and ought to be encouraged, and
/ would suggest that measures could
be undertaken along three lines:
First. The Improvement of the seed
by the breeding and introduction of
varities having longer and better staple
and more resistant TO disease.
Second. BY educational methods to
diffuse among farmers a knowledge of
better methods of cultivation, seed Sc
lection, etc.
Third. The establishment of demon
stration farms and local experiment
| fields.
Taking up each of these in turn,
am considering them with reference to
what ought to be done. first, under i'm
provement of seed, which is one of the
most important. but by no means the
easiest, lines of effort. 1t will not be
possible to secure at once a sufficient
supply of the best seed, because 1t is
not grown. 1t will be necessary to be-
gin plant breeding on a liberal scale.
An organization of ginners or seed mer-
chants should secure the cooperation
Of the planters on the sea islands, VINO
are expert in seed selection, and have
them breed varieties. especially adapt
ed to Georgia conditions rather than
for the sea Islands. This means that
greater attention should be paid to pro-
ductiveness and disease-resistance than
10 securing all EXTRAORDINARY lOlAS STA
pie. 1t would doubtless require the pay
ment of higher prices for the seed, but
comparatively small quantities of seed
taken from the sea islands would be
planted for the first year in Georgia On
good land under control of the pur
chasers. The resulting crop would be
given out to the farmers the second
year In the meantime, the process of
selection would be continued on the sea
IL. L., % w ~
brought down each year. 1t is evident
that the larger the scale and the more
attention paid to selection in this I'M
dertaking, the better the results will be.
since, IL all the patrons of ginning
company were to plant the same seed,
a much greater uniformity of produc-
ton would result. All seed brought into
Georgia ought to be wilt-resistant, and,
although there is not a great amount
Of wilt-resistant seed now in existance,
ii could be readily increased, care be-
ing taken not to use those wilt-resist-
ant varieties that are of too fine staple
for Georgia conditions.
Better Methods Needed.
Second. The introduction of better
methods could best be accomplished
by institute work, lectures, etc. The
distribution of literature would do
some good but is much less efficient in
reaching the farmers IMAM personal
contact through the institutes. 1t
would be worth while to hold a meet
ing in each community every winter,
The addresses given should lay special
stress on the role of plant diseases in
crop production, on the injurious ef-
fects of cowpeas, and the Importance
of rotation with legumes, also on the
use of new forage crops and the ex-
tension of stock raising.
Third. The establishment of dem
onstratfon farms is very effective
means of reaching the farmers. Some
few such farms are already establish
ed and in the near future more could
be located in the sea island sections,
but not by any means as many as
there ought to be-"
Mr.. orion has devoted great deal
of time to the study and investigation
of the subject, of which he writes and
what he has TO say Is worthy of the
thoughtful consideration of all those
who are in any wise interested in the
production of sea island cotton. I'm
less conditions are improved the in