The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1905-12-08
Work OF the United s tates Ag-
ricultural Department.
IMPROVING COrT( N
Experiments Ia South Carolina. The Sc
lection Of the Best Seed Improves
the Standard Varieties of Cot
ton and Ohter Crops. Tea
Grown in this State.
Grown in this State.

The annual report tf the secretary
Of agriculture for the year 1905 has
just become available and contains
much interesting information relative
to soil, crops, methods OF planting,
ETC., In South Carolina.
In the breeding and improvements
Of cotton the fist experiments we're
made in 1899. At this time little had
been published CO lcarning cotton
breeding. The fr lency OF natural
crossing in the fed has been given
attention, SO that d II rent varieties
might be grown without risk OF mix
Ing and deteriorating. The cOrrela-
tion Of Characters, the law governing
the splitting Of hybrids, the form Of
plant and other Important matters
have been carefully studied. The
most important problem In The co ton
industry Is the securing of varie,i as
productive as ordinary staple 5, r,s,
hut producing better and longer Int
Tnis can be done by two distinctly
different methods. The first meth>d
Is to secure hybrids OF the long sta.
pie, sea island cotton with the stand.
ard short staples, with view towards
securing new sorts which combine,
first, improved length Of staple with
large bolls, opening well; d, sec
Ond, the productive characier II the
plant OF the short Staple. The de-
partment E>1 secured hJbtids, ONT
Class 0f~Which 10 a distinctly upland
type and produces large round lock
ed bolls, has fine silky lint from / / 2
to S 8 inches in length and mooth
black seed, SO that 1T may be easily
ginned en- roller gins Is desired, the
fiber of this will rival the Egyptian
and lower grades OF sea island. Two
ment are similar, but have lint aver
aging only ! 3-8 inches.
A second method Of securing i'm
/. foved staple, which has given very
sGriklng results, Is The straight selec
tion of the STANDARD short staple va.
S@de5tes. tU was round by careful ex
animation Of such varieties as Ru,
sell and Jones improved, that there
was considerable variation in the
length Of lint produced by different
plants. Careful experiments have been
made with both these varieties and
the average length Of lint In the breed.
Ing stock OF these two varieties has
increased from the ordina-; | 10 8
inches until 1t Is now from 4 to /
3-8 inches; meanwhile the plants have
maintained their full producti veness
and all other good characters.
All varieties Of cotton have been
found to vary greatly in their produc
tivity in the case Of d iferent individ
uals and d fl .rent strains Of the same
variety. One strain, Pride Of GeOr
gia, which has for Sc veral years been
selected for Increased yield by care
full system Of pedigree breeding, has
shown marked imprL vement. A COB
siderable quantity Of this 81 ed will be
distributed to plantt rs IN the spring
of 1906, and In 1907 still higher
grade OF select seed OF the same va
riety will be available.
In the boil weevil infested area
there is great demand for earlier va
rieties Of big boil types. The extensive
experiments inaugurattd d In 1904 in
this line have not yet reached a stage
where safe conclusions can be drawn,
but preliminary experiments stated
the year preceding have given one
very early strain, selected from a ma
tive Texas big boil sort, With which 1t
has been compared. A limited trial
distribution Of the seed Of this varie-
ty will be made in the s )rinR Of 1906.
A large quantity OF Egyptian ,tton
Is imported into this country annually
and used in the mills. 1t Ia not im prob
able that in some sc ctioDs OF the cot
ton growing area suitable soil, for this
could be found.
During the last two years the bu
reau Of plant industry he's bad a skill
ed corps OF men in the field battling
against the boil Weeyil and wherever
trouble along this line has been re-
ported, experiments have at once
been commenced. The most important
work, however. In this come cIior, has
been the field demonstration work
which has had for It's object the bring
ing home to the people practical meth
eds Of tillage, cultivation and plant
ing to enable them to grow cotton de
spite the presence Of the weevil
Rice has received special attention
during the last six or seven years
The Japanese, or KiuShu variety was
brought into the country and dissim
mated. Since this introduction the
develol lm2nt Of the rice industry In
the South has been phenomenal. Be-
tween 1899 and 1904 Tie rice acreage
of Louisiana and II, xas inc eaCed from
210,396 acres, yielding l79 ,0l9 203
pounds of rough rice, In 1896 to 8l0,
700 acres in 1904, yielding $50 426, 800
pounds, an increase Of upward OF 100
per cent In acreage, but far the great
est increase being In Texas In 1888
Texas had l78 acres OF rice, In 1899,
8,7ll acres, while In 1904 the acreage
had increased to BIG, 600, or more than
forty. three times the area under this
crop six years ago.
In the drug plant Investigations o
field study Of small areas of many
kinds of drug producing plant has
been made In South Carolina and 9th
or states, and 1t has been shown that
rnGny CT the most important kinds
will do well>where tried, such as pop
spy, belladonna," "argltals, wormwood
peppermint, etc. American wormsoet
has been grown in South Carolina al
field crop with profit comparing
very favorably with that Of corT2s cot
ton and tobacco. ~
@ Experiments have been made dur
Ing the last year In tea raising, ant
, during this time 1000 pounds Of tef