Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-02
Improved Cotton Types
Help Fight Boil WeeUit

The gradual spread Of the boil wee
vii through the cotton belt has ne.
cessitated a general reorganization
Of agriculture, the abandonment of
cotton growing in a few of the more
humid districts where the crop was
uncertain and most exposed to wee
vii damage, changes of varieties and
methods elsewhere, and the intro
duction of the crop to new localities.
The United States department Of ag-
riculture has made an intensive
study of Improvement in recent
years, and has just issued a new de-
Ipartment circular, No. 200, Improve
ment in Cotton Production.
The department finds that commu-
mites which unite upon single su-
perior variety Of cotton and main
tain a supply of pure seed find that
many Of their problems are simplified
and that many avenues of progress
are opened.
Other community improvements,
cultural precautions, insect or dis
ease control, labor supplies, ginning,
handling, warehousing, financing and
marketing of the crop are all ap-
preached to greater advantage in or
ganized one-Variety communities. The
IOISduIZcsL1OIl VI OIlS-NGtI SOlAAAIAN
mites opens the way to a gradual
Improvement of the commercial sys-
tenn, which in unorganized communi-
ties tends seriously to discourage
progress.
Along with the production Of supe-
rior varieties must be found way for
farmers to secure the higher prices
paid by manufacturers. When the
buyers absorb the premium the de-
mand can not be said to have reached
the farmer, and the supply is not al
fected except adversely. The present
commercial system, through discour-
aging good farming and keeping the
cotton industry on a low plane OF de-
Velopment, may be considered re-
sponsible for the prevailing idea that
the growing of cotton is a proper
employment for cheap and careless
labor.
The best opportunity for judging
the quality Of the fiber is in the field
before the cotton is picked. Field
/ inspection, the department points
out, is practicable in one-variety
communities and would be a great
Improvement over the present sys-
tenn of commercial CHASING, not only
in enabling the manufacturer to OBJ
| tain much more uniform fiber, but
in applying the just discrimination
in prices that would encourage the
| farmer to use the best seed and take
the best care, of his cotton.
Desirable Cultural Characters
| The cultural characters that are
now recognized as Of most impor
lance in weevil-infested regions are
rapid setting of the crop on small,
upright, single-stalk plants; resist
ance to disease, to insect pests, or
to unfavorable conditions Of growth;
large bolls, and the holding of the
cotton in the open bolls, the So
called "stormproof" character.
From Mexico and Central America
new types Of cotton have been Sc
cured with specialized characters
that may be considered as weevll-
resisting adaptations, but the chlet
factor Of weevil resistance is the abll
itv to set a good crop of hollis in a
short period of time, early in the
fruiting season. The weeVils do not
breed until the flower buds are
formed, and a month or more must
elapsa before the weevil population
is greatly increased. Hence, 1t US
ualIy is possible for a prolific early
variety of cotton to set it's bolls be-
fore the weevils become too numer
o1s and destructive. When all OIL
the flower buds are infested, no more
bolls can be set.
In addition to planting early va
rieties, cultural precautions need 10
be observed in the interest OF smal
size and early maturity OF the plants
Even the earliest and most prollflc
varieties, if forced into rank, lux
uriant growth, may grow into large
late-maturing plants and yield only
I small crops. The advantage or s1nal
plants is not limited to weevll-ln-
! tested districts or even to snort
season conditions. The rule is that
! small upright plants, close together
| in the rows, are better than large
spreading plants for purposes OF
production, Very large crops can
he raised on relatively small plants
not more than three feet with upland
cotton or four feet high with Egyp-
tan cotton.
/ AS a means of securing early
crops of cotton in the presence OF
the boil weevil or in snort seasons, 1t
is better cultural practice to nave
large numbers of small plants IMAM
small numbers of large plants. WIN
deferred thinning and close spacing
! in the rows most Of the plants de'
velop with a single upright stalk
With rows Sc to AZ inches apart the
LARGEST crops are produced from SIN
gle stalk plants less than toot
apart in the row, not from VIDE
spreading plants two or three Ieet
apart. The single-stalk system
avoids croWding between the rows
and secures a more normal develop
ment of the lower fruiting branches,
where the early bolls are produced
Nine Varieties of High Merit
The United States department or
agriculture has bred and distributed
a series of varieties Of cotton Whlch
are adapted to wide range OF CON
ditions in the American cotton belt
and are superior in length and
abundance of lint, as we'll as being
early and prolific. The Lone Star
variety produces under favorable
conditions ia inch staple, the Acalla
variety 1 3-16 inch, the Columbia and
| Durango IL inch. In carefully con-
Quoted tests these varieties have
often outyielded other sorts with
much shorter fiber. Even the Meade
cotton, producing 13s to IA inch
staple of Sea Island quality, yields
as much as some of the short staple
varieties that are grown in the same
districts in Georgia and South Caro-
lima.
With such varieties available, no
agricultural reasons can be alleged
for continuing to produce cotton of
less than inch staple in the United
States, nor do there appear to be any
industrial or general economic rea-
| I. IL 10 Sln nn,t nd