The 1 Bulletin. 25 



bolls to yield a pound of seed cotton: Russell's Big Boll at Edge- 

 combe, 54; at Red Springs, G-i; and at Iredell, 72. Culpepper's Im- 

 proved at Edgecombe, Gl; at Ked Springs, 71; and at Iredell, 74. 

 Edgewood at Edgecombe, 72 ; at Red Springs, 77 ; and at Iredell, 71). 

 These are late varieties and heavy producers of both lint and seed 

 when planted upon soils that will mature them before frost. 



Va7-ieties Adapted to the Eastern and Southeastern Sections of the 

 State. — After a study of our results with varieties obtained at the 

 Edgecombe and Red Springs farms during the past four or five years, 

 it is found that of the varieties of cotton thus far tested, Excelsior 

 Prolific, Edgewood, Culpepper's Improved, King's Improved, Rus- 

 sell's Big Boll, and Peterkin's Improved have yielded the largest 

 amounts of seed cotton per acre on an average. In the eastern part 

 of the State, on the stift'er clayey soils, bottom-lands, poorly drained 

 lands and lands near the northern border of the State, it will gener- 

 ally be iound advisable to use the best of the earlier maturing varie- 

 ties, such as King's Improved, Edgewood, and Excelsior Prolific ; 

 while on the more open sandy and loamy soils of the east and south- 

 east, the larger-boiled and more vigorously growing varieties, such as 

 Culpepper's Improved and Russell's Big Boll, will generally yield 

 most satisfactory returns. 



Varieties Adapted to Piedmont Section of the State. — With refer- 

 ence to varieties of cotton suited to this portion of the State, we cannot 

 assert with the same degree of certainty as we can for the eastern 

 part of the State, as our experiments have only been conducted in 

 Iredell for three years, and with some of the varieties for only the 

 past season. So with reference to this portion of the State on a red- 

 clay soil, Ave would recommend, tentatively, giiided by our results, 

 the use of either King's Improved, Culpepper's Improved, Edge- 

 wood, or Excelsior Prolific as the best suited. King's Improved 

 has, in our experiments at the Iredell farm, proved to be the earliest 

 and decidedly the most prolific variety thus far tested there, where 

 the growing season for cotton is comparatively short. 



PEOPER PLACE TO SELECT SEED. 



With cotton, as with any other staple crop, the place to select seed 

 for the next year's planting is in the field — -selecting with reference 

 to total yield of seed cotton, percentage of lint, date of maturity, 

 vigor, hardiness, form and size of bolls, leaves, stalks, limbs, and 

 resistance to disease and insect ravages. By selecting from stalks 

 that bear a large number of bolls per stalk, the tendency will be in 

 the progeny to give an increased yield over the average of the patch, 

 which is the seed obtained when one waits to seciire his seed at ran- 

 dom from the gin. Another objection to securing seed from the gin 

 in the usual way is that it is usually deferred until late in the fall. 



