The Bulletin. 57 



Antagonistic Characters. — (1) Earliness in maturity is not usually 

 conducive to large yields, although in areas where a short growing 

 period is afforded the earlier maturing varieties often give the greater 

 yields (but these are not large generally), as is shown by King's 

 Improved, which, during the past five years, has proven the most pro- 

 lific of seed cotton at the Iredell farm, where the growing period for 

 cotton during an average season is comparatively short. (2) Varie- 

 ties that have large seed generally yield a small percentage of lint to 

 seed. (3) Late-maturing varieties do not generally produce seed 

 cotton that yields a high percentage of lint, although the number of 

 pounds of lint per acre may be large. (4) Small-boiled varieties are 

 not generally easily picked, and hence are unpopular with pickers. 



Associated Characters. — (1) Varieties that mature early tend to 

 the production of seed cotton that contains a high percentage of lint 

 to seed. (2) Varieties with short staple usually have a high per- 

 centage of lint, and vice versa. (3) Varieties with large bolls gener- 

 ally have large seed and small percentage of lint. (4) The larger 

 the yield of seed cotton per acre, through proper fertilization or favor- 

 able seasonal conditions, the lower the percentage of lint to seed, even 

 of the same variety. ( 5 ) Good root and leaf development of a variety 

 tends to increase power of resistance to drought, insect and disease 

 ravages. 



PK.OPER 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 secure his seed at random 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, and thereby, 

 generally, seed from the last picking are obtained, which are not the 

 best seed. The best seed, as a rule, are from the middle picking. 



In selecting a variety one must not be guided entirely by total yield 

 of seed cotton, for often between two varieties producing about the 

 same quantity per acre the one with the smaller yield should be chosen 

 because of its production of a larger amount of lint and higher selling 

 price of total products (lint and seed). It should be remembered 

 that lint sells for from eight to fifteen times as much per pound as 

 seed. 



Other things being equal, preference should be given to the larger- 

 boiled varieties, with a large number of locks per boll, as they are 

 much easier picked, and hence are most popular with pickers. 



