COTTON SELECTION ON THE FATJM. 15 



the field . Nevovtheless, if the boll selection be made early enough much 

 of the s])reading of pollen in the latter part of the season can be 

 avoided. The bees and other insects that carry the pollen usually 

 become more numerous late in the season, and much more crossing 

 probably takes place. Another advantage of boll selection is the 

 opportunity that it gives to become better acquainted with the leaf 

 and stem characters of degenerate plants and better abihty to detect 

 such plants early in the season in following years. If selection is 

 deferred till the crop is ripe the external differences of the plants will 

 have become much less apparent. 



SELECTION BY SEED AND LINT CHARACTERS. 



More time is required for the last selection, in which attention is 

 given to the fertihty of the plants and to the characters of the hnt 

 and seed. The labor will have been greatly lessened by the previous 

 roguing out of all the plants that gave external evidence of tendencies 

 to depart from the uniform type of the variety either in the habits of 

 growth, in the characters of the leaves, or in the size and shape of 

 the bolls. Plants that show themselves deficient in fertility or in 

 earhness in comparison with their neighbors can also be omitted from 

 the last selection. The examination of the hnt is thus narrowed 

 down to the plants that have appeared satisfactory in all other 

 respects. 



Preliminary study and comparison are necessary to enable one to 

 judge the plants readily wuth respect to the length, strength, and 

 abundance of hnt, just as in the case of the external vegetative char- 

 acters. Many planters have made a practice of noticing differences 

 in lint and are already well qualified to perform this kind of selection. 



The length and abundance of the hnt are compared in the field 

 by the famihar process of straightening it out from the sides of the 

 seed, either by ])ulling between the thumb and fuiger or by using a 

 small comb. One or more samples of the ct)mbed-out lint from 

 different plants can be held between the fingers of the left hand and 

 thus carried along for ready comparison. The strength of the lint 

 is judged in the field by breaking the combed-out strands while held 

 between the thumbs and first fingers of the two hands. Any plant 

 is rejected that shows itself distinctly inferior to its neighbors in 

 length, strength, or abundance. 



SELECTION BY FLOWER CHARACTERS IN EGYPTIAN COTTON. 



Egyptian cotton has one advantage over Upland cotton in the 

 matter of selection, since the characters of the flower can also be 

 made to assist in detecting the undesirable plants. Instead of being 

 creamy white, as in Upland cotton, the Egyptian flowers are yellow 



[Clr. 66] 



