22 COTTON SELECTION ON THE FARM. 



on in each variety to maintain the uniformity and productiveness 

 of the t3^e. 



Unless the farmer is wilhng to become a regular breeding specialist 

 and take the trouble of artificial hand pollination in order to secure 

 pure seed of his new type, he had better confine his attention to his 

 general farm variety or limit himself to a few special plants whose 

 progeny can be grown in separate places, such as the flower or vege- 

 table garden, or on other parts of the farm distant as far as possible 

 from other kinds of cotton. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The full possibilities of improving the cotton crop can not be real- 

 ized until the work of selection is carried out on every farm and 

 becomes established as a regular part of the care of the crop. The 

 only adequate alternative is the purchase of selected seed from a 

 careful neighbor who maintains his selection and produces a uniform 

 crop. 



One of the most important advantages of the plan of raising cotton 

 for seed in a separate field or plat is that the farmer is likely to give 

 the plants more attention and thus become more familiar with the 

 characteristics of the variety that the plants represent. Such 

 familiarity is necessary in order to qualify the farmer or the breeder 

 to establish and maintain the uniformity of the variety by selection. 



Though much of the undesirable diversity of the crop can be 

 ascribed to the mixture of varieties, it is not possible to keep any 

 variety uniform without continued selection. Spontaneous changes 

 to inferior characters occur even in the most uniform varieties, and 

 if such variations are not removed the uniformitv of the stock is 

 gradually destroyed. 



A farmer who knows his variety well enough can make use of the 

 external characters for the removal of inferior plants early in the 

 season, when this work can be done more easil}^ and efficiently than 

 by waiting for the lint and seed characters at the end of the season. 



Attention to the external characters makes it possible to detect 

 degenerate plants, those that will j)roduce small bolls and inferior 

 lint, even before they have begun to flower. The roguing out of such 

 plants early in the season guards the uniformity of the crop by pre- 

 venting the cross-fertilization of good plants with pollen of inferior 

 individuals. 



The farmer should not hope to equip himself for the work of selec- 

 tion merely by reading a description or looking at a picture of a 

 variety. He should begin with a reliable stock of seed of a desirable 

 variety and should familiarize himself with the plants as they grow 

 in the field. 



[Cir. 66] 



