bureau of plant industry. 271 



Breeding and testing new varieties of American Upland cot- 

 ton. — The breeding and testing of new varieties of American Up- 

 land cotton have been continued, with special attention to long-staple 

 varieties of the Texas big-boll type. A promising new variety bred 

 in Texas by Dr. D. A. Saunders has been included in the Congres- 

 sional distribution of the present year under the name of " Lone 

 Star." 



Distribution or new varieties or cotton. — The former policy of 

 making only a single distribution of a superior new variety has been 

 modified. The purity of a new stock is usually destroyed in the first 

 season, because most farmers prefer to test the value of a new variety 

 by planting a few rows in a field of other cotton. It has been con- 

 cluded, therefore, that two or three distributions of one superior 

 variety are likely to be of more use than single distributions of a 

 larger number of varieties. The chief object is not to increase the 

 number of varieties, which is already too large, but to encourage the 

 widest utilization of the best varieties. 



Long-staple Upland cotton in the Atlantic States. — The ad- 

 vance* of the boll weevil has reduced the production of long-staple 

 Upland cotton in Mississippi and Louisiana, resulting in an acute 

 commercial demand for this type of fiber. The high prices realized 

 by eastern growers of the Columbia long-staple Upland cotton have 

 stimulated popular interest in this variety to the extent that all the 

 available supplies of good seed were long since exhausted. Special 

 efforts are being made to preserve the uniformity of this variety by 

 growing new supplies of seed under conditions of isolation from 

 other cotton and by more eifective cooperation in the work of selection. 



Acclimatization of Central American cottons. — The breeding 

 and testing of select strains of cotton derived from acclimatized Cen- 

 tral American varieties is being continued, with very favorable re- 

 sults in comparison with the best selections of American Upland 

 varieties. In addition to habits of growth that lessen weevil in- 

 juries, some of the new types are extremely prolific and yield lint of 

 excellent Upland quality. 



Relation of drought to aveevil resistance. — A report has been 

 published showing the importance of dry weather in relation to other 

 factors of weevil resistance of cotton and the possibility of utilizing 

 the beneficial effects of drought to a larger extent by the improve- 

 ment of cultural methods and the breeding of weevil-resistant va- 

 rieties. 



Earliness as a factor under aveevil conditions. — A study of the 

 subject of earliness of cotton has been completed and a report pub- 

 lished. The conclusion is that the form of earliness most valuable 

 as a means of avoiding injury by the boll weevil is the shortening of 

 the period of development of the crop, the interval between the de- 

 velopment of flower buds and the growth of the bolls beyond the 

 range of weevil injuiT. Earliness measured by dates of planting or 

 opening of first flowers or bolls is less important. Experiments have 

 shown that cotton planted too early and checked by cold weather may 

 mature a later and smaller crop than adjacent rows planted at a 

 later date. 



