The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-11-22
SECURING BETTER COTTON
THROUGH SEED SELECTION
eManufacturcr's Record


81 Paper read at World Gotten Con
gresss by E. c. Ewing, Scott. Miss.)
In discussing some Of the result:
Hat that have been accomplished II
the Improvement of cotton and son'
eaf the. problems involved in securin;
better cotton through seed selection,
shall deal with American conditions
x Problems of other countries are. O.
course, different in many ways and re
iquire familiarity with local conditions
Their solution necessarily demands:
an understanding of those peculiar
Senditiens as thoroughly as iossibie
and then the application Of funda
mental biological principles. These
are practically the same everywhere
The problems which 1 shall discuss
may, therefore, be regarded as typical
In a sense. of what may be encoun-
tered in any country.
Before discussing prescntday prob
ssexas of cotton Improvement. it may
be interesting TO recall some, Of /the
aealieeemepts that have already been
secured.
The classic example in America Is
thar of sea island cotton. Frofsl 4
tropical plant j, bearing iiat which
would only be cpmsiIered sneaieere by
eaaigsarisen with the best modern sta
Pies .Jlsc sea- island, growers have de-
vesepsad their cotton to the pressnt
standard of excellence. The prodac-
tipn Of the finest staple became sps-
eializad to the islands Of iiae coast cf
Seush Carolina and for yeas their
eessen, ranging in length Of staple
was recognized as the finest cotton
z fiber grown anywhere. The famous
crop lots the cream OF the island pro-
ssslet have long come froEa planta-
tipns Where seed selection aimed at
the sfnest and longest staple has. been
) pEaetjced for general atiops.
fiber has. not been the. only
feature to.which the sea-island breed
.Scr has had to, give his 3ttention- To
a,sgfn with. when ;seaEisland cotton
WAS first int reduced to.the United
States frou, the West Indies about
1885, the. plant was perennial and
quite different from its present habit
and form. BY persistent selection Of
the earliest. most compact .aad ia'o--
asetsre types that appeared. the an
nua1 habit was established and the
papductiveness aud the quality en-
5hapeed. i. ...,s.. .,.4.,..c
be met by the sea island breeders.
was that of securing resistance TO the.
costen-wi;t disease. The leader il
fhe Establishment of wiN-resistasN
strains was Col. Z. L, Rivers: OF
James Island. lfc developed Il splcn-9
did type that was almost immune to
the disease and which bore exce2les':
lint =
S In tile salt sTsiy-er and Imperial ye's'-
icy OF AFfzeha and California We ROW
have well established cotton grow
ing izdus.sy based directly On the sue
.cessfuls results OF seed selection. Ia
those regions there are now growing,
thousands OF acres.sof Egsptian cot
ton. psarssed with varieties developed
in America appr oaan1ateiy within lag.
last decade. -
mss19e2 experiments were begun oy,.
the United States Department OF AtG-
ein the growing Of Egyptia:l
cotton in Arizona. The results were
rather uapronasing at first, mainly
because .theSsimperted varieties Of
Egyptian ,eothos,. as grown ia the rssls;.
.s.sssiess iss, ss,ssi.: e5,s .taa
a newtSftA was segrsssatsa frpRa ethv
;er selections which has si.aee BECOME
.alse pss;ss Of the. Egyptian cotton in7
s,szslry eia the Southwest. This nesy.
variety which Originated from q sits-s
gle plant oc Ait Aft Egyptian. pam
ed Yuma, .tas . distinct ;mDrovsp1c;it I
ON tfses inaported variety. 1t was ear
der, more productive and. uniform;
the staple was longer and more reg
Mar. Not until 1912, when a supply
sef seed Of this, new variety suthcien.
40 plant about 200 acres bad .b.s,:l
spraduced and It's, merit. i,ad 6e<ii:i
proved. was the commercial CULTURE
sof Egyptian cotton recommended by
the DEPARTMENT of Agriculture. f::'-.
ter the Pima variety was isolated b.
selection from the Yuma and ls an
Improvement over tlfe latter. TkssS
two varieties developed By Mr. kear-
:Hey and his associates Of the Depart
smcnt Of Agriculture, constitute prac-
sficaily the, co.ire America n l1Sisss;yp-
Linn crop. The predalctien amounted
40 ,oyer 3 sc. 6. 900 l.;lh;s.in, 1aiS, an., b.
prospects. arc. that the Culture. Of this
cotton WIN be considcrab.y .eStearieG.
In the testing. cf these rev Nar'e-
ties. field trials We're 2,2plcmenteH
by spinning tests and the :sspersofl:S
of the new sorts both from tn asri-
cultural and the manufacturing stand
peints Was- ascertaiT;tf.
From tic ,asricnltufat ;zss1 sipoii1t
i4ee ssz:,ss 's'sset'''f
dusins the 'ast ~ or 1a Years ~ ths
!.
Ssy 81
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