SEED AND PLANT DISTRIBUTION, 51 



EXCELSIOR. 



Excelsior is a variety of Upland short-staple cotton (PL I) which 

 hits become popular in certain parts of South Carolina, and was 

 awarded a gold medal at the Charleston Exposition. The variety was 

 produced in L896 by taking sm\ from a sport of unknown parentage 

 which exhibited desirable qualities. Since this time the seed has been 

 selected with care to insure its coming true to type and to increase its 

 production. Mr. Moore informs us that every year selections have 

 been made from an experimental breeding patch, culling out inferior 

 stalk*- and selecting seed from nothing but the best. Under this rigor- 

 ous select ion the plants, it is claimed, have increased in productivity 

 and have become uniform in type, showing now little tendency to 

 sport or revert to a poorer type. 



This variety Mr. Moore recommends as being very prolific and giv 

 ing large yields. In tests at Columbia, S. ('.. in the season of L902, 

 the plants averaged about :'»' feet high and were well boiled. 



Some doubt exists a- to what name can he correctly applied to this 

 cotton. According to Prof. S. M. Tracy, in a statement published in 

 Bulletin:!M. United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Experi- 

 ment Stations, issued in L896, Mr. ( '. R. Ezell, of Eaton ton, (la., origi- 

 nated by selection from the variety New Era, a strain to which the name 

 Excelsior was given. Mr. Moore's Excelsior, according to his state- 

 ment, was originated in 1896, the year of Professor Tracy's publica- 

 tion. Mr. EzelFs Excelsior would therefore have the priority of 

 name. Owing to this confusion of names we would suggest that Mr. 

 Moore's Excelsior be referred to as Mbo?\ Excelsior, or simply as the 

 MooTi cotton. 



Plant of Peterkin type, with one main stem and spreading lower limbs, the other 

 lateral limits being comparatively short. Shows some tendency t<> develop bolls in 

 pairs or clusters. Bolls medium small, ovate or spherical, blunt pointed, 4 to 5 

 locked, opening well. Seeds small, weighing 0.09 to 0.10 gram, gray, tufted, 7 to 9 

 per lock. Lint, good ordinary short staple about 1 inch in length. Per cent of lint 

 32 to 33. Season medium. 



The seed of this variety distributed was grown by Mr. C. F. Moore, 

 Bennettsville, S. C, in the season of lf>02. 



KING. 



King, or King's Improved as it has been called, is a very early 

 variety of Upland cotton (PI. 1), originated by T. J. King, of Louis- 

 burg, N. C. In attempting to improve the cotton grown on his plan- 

 tation, Mr. King made tests of very many varieties, but found none 

 that exactly met the requirements as he recognized them. "1 there- 

 fore determined,'' he states, "to try to mix the two kinds which, 

 between themselves, appeared to possess all the essentials desired, and 



