The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-05-08
HEAVY SEED ARE BEST.
The Agricultural Department at
Washington Gives the Farmers Ad-
vice.

Washington Gives the Farmers Ad-
vice.
The department OF agriculture has
Just issued an important publication
especially advising all farmers that
plan cotton to be sure and plant the
heaviest seed that they can obtain.
The following comprises part OF the
publication:
The Importance of using heavy
seed in many crops is We'll establish
ed. Seed grains, for instance. are
quite generally subjected to some de-
] gree Of separation. In tobacco the
great Importance Of using large and
heavy seed has been demonstrated by
Mr.. A. D. SLAMMED in the course Of
experiments conducted by the bureau
of plant industry of the department
of agriculture. In this crop the
| tests Of light and. heavy seed have
proved that the best developed and
most vigorous plants are always pro-
duced from the heavy Seeds While
the light seeds produce small, irregu-
lar, and undesirable plants.
ITO secure a vigorous development
of plants it is important to have a
large quantity Of nutriment stored in
the seeds. Heavy seeds are the
only ones which meet this condition,
and, as a rule, the heavier they are in
proportion to their volume the higher
| is the percentage Of termination,
1.-The more rapid is the growth Of the
resulting plants, the more resistant
are they to disease and adverse con-
ditions, and the greater is their pro-
ductiveness. Light seeds on the other
hand, germinate poorly and produce
plants of low constitutional vigor,
which are readily attacked by dis
eases and which possess a compare
lively low degree Of productiveness.
.It is therefore important to sub
iect seed for planting to some pro-
cess of separation by which the light
and inferior seeds are eliminated.
Such separation can readily be ef-
fected with seeds having smooth seed
coats, as, for instance, corn, wheat,
peas and tobacco. A number Of meth
DDS have ben devised which are ap-
plicable to the separation Of such
seeds, and in case Of a number OF
important crops extensive expert
ments have been conducted with sep
arated seeds The results strongly
indicate the superiority Of heavy
seeds and the advisability of sepa-
ration.
Comparatively little experiment
work has been done in the separation
and it is now possible to recommend
what appears to be a thoroubhly
practicable and successful method.
':The only two pieces of apparatus
necessary to separate cotton seed, as
described in this bulletin, are the seed
roller and the seed separator. The
roller can easily be made by any
farmer from a petroleum barrel, as
previously described. a seed separa-
| tor Of the kind described is not as yet
| manufactured and at the present time
cannot be purchased. 1t is. howev-
er, very easy to make an apparatus OF
this kind. Air-blast tanning mills, can
be purchased, and 4 carpenter can
easily make an extension Of the fre,
| the only necessary is TO modify the
gearing so that the fan may be run
at a rapid rate without increasing the
speed of the sieve shaker. Any car
| oenter should be able to make these
changes at Slight expense to. the
planter.
Of cotton seed, but in view Of bened:-
ciaI results obtained in the case OF
other crops there is no apparent rea-
son why similar results should not be
obtained with cotton by a separation
which eliminates the light and infe-
| rior seeds. The seeds Of upland vari-
eties Of cotton are covered with a
dense fuzz, which holds them to-
gether and prevents the separation by
any of the methods which are appll-
cable to the separation Of smooth
seeds. and therefore no practical
method has been devised to meet
| these conditions.
| In view of this fact and the posi-
bility Of increasing the yield in this
| way. it was decided to make some
effort 70 devise method which
would be applied to the separation of