The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1905-09-19
NOW IS THE TIME TO SELECT SEED CORN AND
COTTON SEED FOR NEXT YEARS CROP.

w readers the Importance of careful selection
II seed for next years planting, but we now have
thousands of readers who did not see The Pro-
,.nessive Farmer and Cotton Plant at all last
,,.ar and it will not hurt the other thousands to
:om their memories about this important matter.
Two or three weeks ago we had an excellent let
fol, from Prof Massey on field selection of seed
corn. and another important letter from Mr..
,;aoroe Allen OH selection of cotton seed Let
~, again call attention to Mr.. Aliens plan for
;nrroving the yield of cotton, for it is for our
,r.at Southern staple crop that our farmers Sc
I,ct seed most recklessly Says Mr.. Allen:
Before sending pickers into the field, the
,rncr should pass through every row. and tie a
,rrip of white cloth (say six inches long by half
I'M inch wile). on a top limb Of every stalk worth
-aving for seed. that is, those most productive,
earliest in ripening, and having the largest, best
formed. and most numerous bolls. Send a trusty
woman ahead of the pickers at each picking time.
with instructions to pick only from marked
stalks Carefully spread the seed cotton until
eud Of season. and be present when it is ginned
in December. Pay for these pickings by the day
and not by weight"
If one farmer does not need enough seed to
Justify him IN asking the ginner to keep the
seed from his superior cotton separate from
the rest let him join with his neighbors who Sc
Ipct the best cotton from their fields, put all to-
gerher. and gin for all at one time. The United
States Department of Agriculture says it is best
not to select seed from the first or last picking;
the second picking is best.
striking example of what can be accom-
llished by careful selection of seed was a boil of
cotton with thirteen we'll developed locks which
Mr.. F. II. Hyatt. of South Carolina, showed US
the Asheville Cotton Association meeting two
weeks ago For several years Col c. S. Mccall,
Of Bemettsvile, S. c., has been selecting seed
from boIs with the largest number of locks and
from Col. McCalls seed Mr. Hyatt last year OBJ
tanned some eleven-lock bolls, and from the
eeven-lock boil boil of thirteen locks has now
been evolved The variety does not as yet pro-
duce much more than other high-grade varieties,
but by selecting seed from the most productive
stalks, doubtless a far more prolific variety will
Ne bred up.
Farmers show more anxiety to get good quail
'E OF seed corn than of cotton seed, but even
here their efforts are often misdrected. 1t is
customary to go into the crib before planting
dme and pick out the largest ears, and while
TINS method of selection is better than none at
aH there Is yet better way. For the variety
making the biggest ear may be by means the
most productive variety. Quite probably it was
Ue only ear the stalk, while a slightly
smaller ear which you have rejected may repre-
TI' tWo-earcd three-eared variety-the stalk
having these two or three smaller ears shelling
VII. a much larger quantity of than the
'IN with only one big Suppose, for exam
pe' mat stalk No. has one large ear with 1000
s'alhs. Stalk No. has two ears with 600 grains
,"en-I'2OO grains as large as those stalk No.
" stalk No. 3 has three ears-averaging $50