The Bulletin. 23 



leading varieties toward early maturity; second, by carefully selecting 

 our seed the total yield per acre may be materially increased. 



When selecting seed from the general crop, the individual plant must 

 form the basis of the operation. The grower should take a careful look 

 over his field and note the size, form, shape, and general vigor of the 

 plants he would like to reproduce next year. In addition to these char- 

 acters he should note the relative number of bolls, relative date of 

 maturity, general disease resistance, and distribution of fruit on the 

 plant. 



Located as we are on the northern limit of the cotton belt of the 

 United States we must have a cotton that matures early, therefore, 

 characteristics that make for early maturity must be present in our 

 ideal plants. 



Some of these characters may be noted as follows : An early matur- 

 ing cotton plant bears most of its crop toward the base of the stalk and 

 does not produce a heavy "top crop." The basal branches carry most 

 of the fruit or bolls. The plant should range in height from three to 

 four feet and have the well known sugar loaf or cone shape. We want 

 our plant to be vigorous and have a good leaf surface. The yield must 

 be considerably above the average for the field and the selections would 

 better be made where the stand is perfect in order to bring out the 

 individuality of the plants. The relative date of maturity is very 

 important. Cotton that is not matured when frost comes does not 

 make as good lint as that maturing earlier. 



Having found the plants desired, only the largest and best bolls, 

 those having four or five locks preferred, should be selected for seed. 

 These should be taken from the lower half of the stalk and never selected 

 much, if any, above the middle of the plant. Enough seed should be 

 thus selected to plant the next crop and ginned and kept separately 

 from the other seed. This operation repeated every year will hand- 

 somely repay the time and expense required. 



ROTATION. 



In the piedmont section the rotation must be chosen with a view to 

 adding organic matter to the soil each year if best results are to be 

 obtained. The old time three-year rotation of cotton, corn, and small 

 grain is all right, with a slight modification, namely, rye or crimson 

 clover should be sown in the cotton field in the fall and plowed under 

 in the spring before corn is planted. Where the corn is not cut up 

 and shocked preparatory to shredding, the old stalks should be cut to 

 bits with a good sharp stalk cutter or disc harrow just before sowing 

 small grain. This small grain crop should generally be wheat, as oats 

 should be sown some weeks earlier and before it might be convenient to 

 get the corn off the land. 



Peas or soy beans, sown broadcast, should follow the small grain 

 crop to be cut for hay, if the land is in fair fertility, or cut up and 

 plowed under if the land is in need of humus. The land should now be 

 seeded to rye and crimson clover to be cut up with the disc and incor- 

 porated with the soil just before planting the cotton crop the following 

 spring. 



