The Washington herald., 1907-03-03

chief; Weber Is on the staff Of the Blu
reau Of Plant Industry, DR.. 3. T. Gallo
way, chief They have many assistants
scattered over several States. and they
work under the general direction of their
respective chiefs still, these two young
men may properly receive much personal
credit for what they have already done.
and there is great hope that their work
viii finally result in practical control OF
the Weeyil
Earlier Cotton Now Assured.
Since no cotton maturing In a short
enough time after planting to render it
practically safe from the weeviTs raw
ages could be found in Central Ameri-
CT, Dr. Webber's energies have been de-
voted to producing what may be termed
a new "short-term" cotton, by working
along the lines adopted by Burbank.
though, of course, not originated by him.
Cotton that would mature in few more
than a hundred days would fill the bill
very we'll in the dry cotton country, he
cause il takes considerably more than
that time after spring opens for the wee
Vii 10 become numerous enough to be
greatly harmful.
The fact that such varieties Of cotton
were grown in the United States was
cause for hope. early in the fight, that
the weevil might ultimately be defeated
That nearly every early cotton yielded
meageriy and unsatisfactory was the
other side of the story.
It was believed that. in time. a salts
factory early cotton could be grown. how
ever, and both Dr. Galloway and Dr.
Weber are confident that the problem IS
now we'll along toward solution.
DR. Webbers work in producing the
desired short-term cotton that shall pro
dIce well has been carried on with the
greatest patience and according to a
carefully thought out plan. This plan in
cludes the maintenance Of large num-
Der OF experiment stations In the cot
ton belt. mostly outside the weeviI w.
tested districts. Consider z the amount
of work done it has been carried on at
very reasonable cost.
Each station is located upon the land
Of some planter. selected Jointly by the
planters of the vicinity and DR.. Weber.
He makes the condition that the soil and
climate shall be fairly normal but asks
the planters 10 select one of their num-
Der whom they all consider a responsible.
careful! man. The planter chosen, a prop
er patch of ground is selected. and plant
cd with seed selected by DR.. Weber Of
ten this seed is the result Of crossing an
early, poor yielding cotton with a late
cotton Of heavy yield.
Planter Pays Cost.
1t is cultivated at the expense Of the
planter. If the yield is better than the
average of the plantations Gotten fields,
the planter benefits by it; if less, the gov
eminent stands the loss. Such losses have
seldom had to be borne
When the cotton is ginned only the seed
of plants that are both early and of
heavy yield is saved for the planting the
next year Sometimes not more than !
per cent is saved Next year this seed
is planted and the process OF selection Is
repeated from year TO year until the en-
tire yield is up 10 a certain standard
When enough seed Of this standard is pro-
duced, it is distributed among the plant
ers. and IL 1t continues to yield well and
mature early. it becomes popular
Dr. Weber tells of an early "defoliate"
cotton-tkat is, cotton whose stalk
bears few Ieaves-produced in that way
that natures by August 10 long before
the weeHl is ready to do its deadliest
work. The "defoliate" late variety, which