Cook: Cotton a Community Crop 
popular idea that cotton varieties ‘“‘run 
out” in a few years, and that “fresh 
seed’? must be brought in from other 
districts. But the fact is that locally 
selected seed of good varieties has 
proved better than imported seed, when 
careful comparisons have been made. 
Moreover, some of the best known 
varieties have been grown continuously 
in the same districts for many years, 
with no indication of “running out,’’ as 
long as isolation and selection are main- 
‘tained. 
A system like ours, that mixes differ- 
ent varieties together and uses inferior, 
mongrel seed as the basis of production, 
no doubt would be considered very 
backward if discovered in a foreign 
country. Chinese farmers might be 
excused on the ground of having no 
select varieties to plant, whereas Amer- 
ican farmers, although they have had 
superior varieties developed, have not 
learned how to maintain and utilize 
pure stocks of seed. In this respect our 
system must be considered defective and 
wasteful, not only to the farmer and the 
manufacturer, but to all who use cotton 
for any purpose that requires strong or 
durable fabrics. 
EXTENT OF PURE SEED REQUIREMENTS 
Full utilization of superior varieties is 
possible only in one-variety communi- 
ties, since it is only in such communities 
that select, uniform stocks can be main- 
tained and increased. The varieties are 
not fully utilized unless they serve as the 
basis of crop production over large 
areas, and for many years. Utilization 
does not begin until a variety is repre- 
sented by enough pure seed to plant a 
field of cotton, and the requirement of 
pure seed is still the same when the 
culture of the variety extends over 
millions of acres. It is not sufficient 
that an improved variety be adopted 
by many individual farmers scattered 
in mixed communities, because this does 
not provide an adequate and continued 
supply of pure seed. 
There is no prospect of centralizing 
the production of cotton seed in a few 
communities or districts for supplying . 
the entire industry. A vast quantity 
of seed, more than 500,000 tons, is 
175 
needed for planting the American cotton 
crop, whereas only about 30,000 tons 
are handled by seed-dealers. On ac- 
count of the relatively large size of the 
seeds, the limited number produced on a 
plant, the need of heavy seeding, and 
the holding of reserves for replanting, 
about ten per cent of the entire crop 
must be of planting quality to afford a 
general provision of good seed. The 
cost of transporting the entire volume 
of seed would be enormous, in addition 
to the danger to the whole industry 
through distributing insect pests or 
plant diseases, or through failures of 
crops in seed-supply districts. 
THE SOCIAL FACTOR IN UTILIZATION 
OF VARIETIES 
If the utilization of varieties de- 
pended upon finding a new chemical to 
treat the seed or to fertilize the soil, or 
upon devising a new machine for plant- 
ing, cultivating or harvesting the crop, 
the problem would appear normal, and a 
solution could be sought along the usual 
technical lines, but social factors enter 
the reckoning when it is understood that 
superior varieties of cotton can be utilized 
only as they are preserved in one-variety 
communities. Except through commu- 
nity action there seems to be no ap- 
proach to a general application of the 
science of heredity or the art of plant- 
breeding in the improvement of the 
cotton industry. 
That pure seed problems should be 
considered by sociologists is as little 
to be expected as that plant breeders 
should study community organization, 
but a common ground is reached when 
the practical needs are recognized. 
Breeders should value community co- 
operation, while sociologists and econo- 
mists, as well as teachers and agricul- 
tural leaders generally, should take more 
account of the biological factors that 
determine the improvement or degener- 
ation of varieties. To devise effective 
methods of organizing and conducting 
the activities of one-variety communi- 
ties, in growing, handling and market- 
ing the crop, and in maintaining the 
purity and uniformity of the basic 
stocks, are problems of as much prac- 
tical importance as the original dis- 
