66 The Bulletin. 



comments on vakiety tests of cotton. 



The varieties tested this year at the Edgecombe and Iredell farms 

 are arranged in Table IX in the order of their selling price of "total 

 products," when lint is selling at 10 cents per pound and seed at 30 

 cents per bushel. This order may not be the onder of productivity 

 of seed cotton as is shown in the tests this year at both the Edgecombe 

 and Iredell farms. For example, at the Edgecombe farm, Wilson's 

 Matchless, although producing more seed cotton than Edgeworth, 

 Drake's Defiance, Moss' Improved, and Dozier's Improved, each 

 ranked higher in value of total products. The same was true of 

 Drake's Defiance when compared with Bigham's Improved, Moss' 

 Improved, and Dozier's Improved in the results from the Iredell 

 farm. 



The reason for some varieties, with smaller yields of seed cotton, 

 producing more lint and hence gi-eater selling price per acre than 

 some others with a larger amount of seed cotton per acre, is due to 

 the former varieties producing a higher percentage of lint to seed. 



The size of the plats used for these tests were 2"V ^^^^ at Iredell and 

 2-6\T5 ^t Edgecombe. 



To eliminate inequalities in the land, if any, the different varie- 

 ties at the separate farms were planted each in separate rows arranged 

 consecutively, and this plan repeated a sufficient number of times to 

 give the designated acreage. It is absolutely essential, in order to 

 eliminate soil and weather conditions as much as possible, to continue 

 work of this kind for some years on different types of soils before 

 attempting to draw definite conclusions. 



The yields for this year are presented in Table IX, while the aver- 

 age rank in value of total products of the several varieties tested 

 during the past six years is shown in Table X. The stand of Little's 

 Improved, King's Improved, Shine's Extra Early Prolific, Simpkins' 

 Prolific, Improved Eussell's Big Boll, and Culpepper's Improved at 

 the Edgecombe farm was very poor, ranging from less than one-half 

 of a stand with Little's Improved to about five-eighths of a stand with 

 Culpepper's Improved. In fact, taking the whole variety test at this 

 farm this year the stand would be considered very irregTilar and poor. 

 It is significant that all of these varieties with poor stand are small 

 seeded varieties except two. The unfavorable spring, no doubt, was 

 largely the cause of this defect in stand. It should not be overlooked, 

 however, that all the varieties were planted in the same way, on the 

 same day, on uniform land and given the same fertilization and cul- 

 tural treatment, hence the results are valuable as showing the ability of 

 certain varieties to withstand adverse seasonal conditions and produce 

 paying yields, which is a matter of considerable importance. At the 

 Iredell farm the stand of the different varieties was considerably bet- 

 ter than at the Edgecombe fann, but the yields here were all compar- 



