Vol. X. No. 228. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



23 



tlie field by breaking the combed out strands while held be- 

 tween the thumljs and first fingers of the two hands. Any 

 plant is rejected that shows itself distinctly inferior to its 

 neighbours in length, strength, or abundance. 



u.sE OF I'KOOENY ROWS IN sELECTiox. Selection of 

 a high-grade variety of cotton can be somewhat simplified and 

 also rendered more effective if the farmer is willing to take 

 the additional precaution of saving the seed of each selected 

 plant separately, in order to plant a part of it in a separate row 

 the following season. 



The use of the progeny rows* enables an additional pre- 

 caution to be taken to guard the purity of a good stock by 

 holding over a part of the seed from which each of the progeny 

 rows has been planted. If any of the rows should prove to be of 

 exceptional merit, it is possible to go back to the reserved 

 seed of the parent of the best row, and sow it in a separate, 

 isolated plot, in the next season, as the foundation of a special 

 strain, descended from a single superior plant. 



Planters of Sea Island cotton are accustomed to the plan 

 of narrowing their selection down to a single .superior plant. 

 They multiply the seed from this plant for two or three years 

 in separate seed plots, to secure enough for field planting. 

 The very high quality and unusual uniformity of the Sea 

 Island cotton are to be ascribed largely to the method of 

 selection that has been followed. 



CONCLUSIONS. The full possibilities of improving the 

 cotton crop cannot be realized until the work of selection is 

 carried out on every farm, and becomes established as a regular 

 part of the care of the crop. The only adequate alternative 

 is the purchase of selected seed from a careful neighbour, who 

 maintains his selection and produces a uniform crop. 



One of the most important advantages of the plan of 

 raising cotton for seed in a separate field or plot, is that the 

 farmer is likely to give the plants more attention, and thus 

 become more familiar with the characteristics of the variety 

 that the plants represent. Such familiarity is necessary in 

 order to qualify the farmer or the breeder to establish and 

 maintain the uniformity of the variety by selection. 



Though much of the unde.sirable diversity of the crop 

 can be a.scribed to the mixture of varieties, it is not possible 

 to keep any variety uniform without continued .selection. 

 Spontaneous changes to inferior characters occur even in the 

 most uniform varieties; and if such variations are not removed, 

 the uniformity of the stock is gradually de.stroyed. 



A farmer who knows his variety well enough can make 

 use of the external characters for the removal of inferior 

 plants early in the season, when this work can be done more 

 easily and efficiently than by waiting for the lint and seed 

 characters at the end of the season. 



Attention to the external characters makes it possible to 

 detect degenerate plants— those that will produce small bolls 

 and inferior lint, even before they have begun to flower. The 

 roguing out of such plants early in the season guards the 

 uniformity of the crop by preventing the cross-fertilization of 

 good plants with pollen of inferior indiviiluals. 



The cotton plant is extremely su.sceptible to influences 

 of .soil and climate. Each variety shows a wide range of 

 difi'erences under ditterent conditions, and the proportion of 

 degenerate plants— those that make definite changes away 

 from the characters of the variety— is also influenced by the 

 conditions under which the plants grow. 



The popular idea that persistent selection will liring 

 about a continued improvement in a pure-bred variety is now 

 questioned in the scientific world, but this does not affect the 

 agricultural importance of selection as a means of preserving 

 the uniformity and productiveness of varieties. 



PRIZES FOR PEASANT COTTON- 

 GROWING, ST. LUCIA. 



The following summary of tin ■ report on the recent 

 cotton-growing competition, held under the auspices of 

 the St. Lucia Agricultural Society, is taken from 

 a report of a meeting of that Society, held on Decem- 

 ber 14, which is given in the Voice of St. Lxicia, 

 December 17, 1910. The judges were Mr. J. C. Moore, 

 Agricultural Superintendent, and Mr.R.C.Niles, School- 

 master at the Agricultural School : — 



Mr. J. C. Moore handed in his report on the examina- 

 tion of cotton plots in the island, entered for competition 

 under the prize scheme of the St. Lucia Agricultural Society 

 in 1910. 



According to the report, ninety-six plots had been examin- 

 ed. Of these: — 



The total area of cotton examined was about .56 

 acres. The work of examining the various plots was done 

 between October 17 and December 12 by Mr. J. C. Moore 

 and Jlr. Niles. 



The report contained, besides, a detailed account of the 

 marking, in which were indicated in numerical order the 

 names of persons who appeared to come within the range of 

 merit to qualify as possible prize winners. 



The Chairman, in warmly thanking Mr. Moore in the 

 name of the Society, said that the able report which they had 

 before them showed that ilr. Moore nuist have given himself 

 a great deal of trouble, judging from the number of plota 

 examined, and al.so taking into consideration the distance 

 that had been travelled over. He asked that the honorar- 

 ium of £10 which had been voted at the general meeting of 

 September 2 last, as a fee to the judges, be paid to them for 

 their services. This was agreed to. 



See Agrkultwal News, Vol. IX, p. 70. 



Coastal Steamer Service for Trinidad and 



Tobago. — The Connnercial Intelligence Branch of the 

 Board of Trade are notified by the Crown Agents for the 

 Colonies that tenders are invited for the performance of 

 a coastal steamer service round and between the i.slands of 

 Trinidad and Tobago, by two vessels of not le.ss than 8-50 

 tons and .500 tons gross register, respectively, steaming at 

 a rate of not less than 9 knots an hour. The contract will 

 be for a period of not less than five, or more than fifteen, 

 years, from :\[arch 19, 1913. Tenders will be received by the 

 Colonial Secretary, Portof-Spain, Trinidad, up to Decem- 

 ber 30, 1911. 



The maximum rates of freight and of passage to be 

 charged by the contractors will lie specified. Subject to 

 certain restrictions, the contractors will be at liberty to use 

 the steamers for their own work, when not engaged in the 

 work to be performed. Facilities as regards the use of 

 wharves and jetties will be afforded by the Government of 

 Trinidad. 



Tender forms, with copy of proposed contract time table 

 and schedules of maximum freight and passage rates, may be 

 obtained from the Crown Agents for the Colonies, White- 

 hall Gardens, London, S.W. ('T/ie Board of Trade Journal, 

 Novemlier 24, 1910.) 



