The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-12-06
SOIL And CROP
Work OF the United s States Ag'
ricuIturaI Department.
IMPROVING COTTON

Experiments in South Carolina. The Sc
lection OF the Best Seed Improves
the Standard Varieties OF -ot.
ton and 0hter Crops. Tea
Grown il this State.
The annual report of the secretary
OF agriculture for the yesr 1905 has
lust 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 were
made in 1899. At this time little had
been published concerning cotton
breeding. The II. q1ency OK natural
crossing in the fed has been given
attention, so that off rent varieties
might be grown without risk OF mix
ing and deteriorstiog. Tas correla-
tion Of characters, the la~ governing
the splitting Of hybridS, the form OF
plant and other important ns"ters
have been carefully studied. The
most important problem ia the co to-
Industry is the securing OF Varietiss',s
productive as ordinary staple sor $,
but producing better and longer lint
This can be done by two distinctly
different methods. The nrst method
Is to secure hybri6s OF the long Sta
pie, sea island cotton with the stand
ard short staples, with a view towards
securing new sorts which ccmoine,
first, improved length Of stap:e ~ith
large bolis, spenirg well; a. d, c
ond, the productive character OF t.,
plant OF the short staple. The de,
psrtnent has secured b, bids, one
class OF which is distinctly upland
type and produces large round 5 lock
ed bolls, has fine silky lint from l l ?
tol 5 S inches in length snd asmootb
black seed, so that it may be easily
ginned On roller gins Is desired, rle
iber Of this will rival the E,y ptiaD
and lower grades OF sea island. Two
other varieties secure bY the depart
ment are similar, bat have lint aver
aging only ! 3-S inches.
A second method Of securing i'm
proved staple, which has giv-n very
striking results, is The straight selec
tion Of tie standard short staple va
rieties. It was found by careful ex
animation Of such varieties as Bus
sell and Jones improved, that there
vas 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 ordinar. 20 l ] 8
inches until it is now from to l
3-S inches: meanwhile the plants have
maintained their full productiveness
and all other good characters.
All varieties Of cotton have been
found to vary greatly in their produc
tivity in the case Of d:ferent indiEid
uals and d ffIent strains Of the same
variety. One strain, Pride OF Geor
sia, which has tor several years been
selected for increased yield by a care
ful system Of pedigree breeding, has
shown marked Improvement. A COD
siderable quantity CT this SEED will be
distributed to planters in the spring
Of 1906, and in 1867 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 inaugu,atsd in 1904 in
this line have not yet reached stage
where safe conclusions can be drawn
but preliminary experiments stated
tho year preceding have given one
very early strain, selected from "a
tive Texas big boil sort, with which it
has been coz pared. A limited t1ia]
distribution OF the seed Of this yarie-
tv will be made in the S ,rine Of 1906.
large quantity OF Egyptian :tton
;simported into this country annually
and used in the mills Itis not npro6
able that in some sections Of the cot
ton growing area suitable soils for this
could be found.
During the last two gears the ou.
reau OF plant industry bss had skill
ed CORPS OF men in the field battling
against the boil weevil, and wherever
trouble along this line has been re-
rorted, experiments have at once
been commenced. The most important
work, however. in this come c&!op, has
been the fsli demonstration wo!k
which has had for its object the bring,
ing home to tie people practical meth
DDS OF tillage, cultivation and plant
ing to enable them tc grow cotton de,
spite the presence Of the weeVil.
Rice has recelvad special attention
during the last six or seven years.
The Japanese, or K;ushu variety was
brought into the country and dissim
mated. Since this introduction the
deyalor msnt OF the rice industry ID
the South has been phenomenal. BS-
tween 1899 and 1904 the rice acreage
Of Louisiana and T, xas inc eased from
2Io, 1896 acres, yielding i7s sl9. 2sS
pounds Of rough rice, in 1895 20 $40,
ZOO acres in 1904, yielding $50 426: 800
pounds, an increase Of upward OF 100
Der cent IL acreage, but far the great
,ro-o,co hnincy In TsYas In 1883
Texas had rs acres OF rice, IN 1899,
Sill acres, while in 1904 the acreage
had increased to $40, 800, or more than
forty. three times the area under 5hls
crop six years ago.
In the drug plant Investigations a
field study OF small areas OF many
kinds Of drug producing plant has
been made in South Carolina and 9th,
or states, and it has been shown thai