56 DEPARTMEf^TAL EEPORTS. 



other crops, such as alkali-resistant plants, tobacco, rice, and certain 

 vegetables. 



Cotton. — The work in breeding cotton was started on a small scale 

 in the fall of 1899, when a few crosses were made between improved 

 strains of sea island and a black, smooth-seeded upland cotton, in tlie 

 hope of producing a long-staple upland race. This work has been 

 continued and greatly extended, and many new lines of investigation 

 have been taken up. The production of races of upland cotton yield- 

 ing a fiber from 1^ to If inches in length is of the highest importance. 

 Cotton of this grade is worth from 15 to 20 cents per pound, and 

 there is a constant demand for it. New mills for the manufacture 

 of such a staple into fine yarn, underclothing, thread, etc., are con- 

 tinually being erected in New England and the South, but the fiber 

 now used by them is largely imported. Several long- staple upland 

 cottons which produce fiber of this grade already exist, but on account 

 of their tufted seed they can not be readily ginned on a roller gin, 

 which is practically necessary to avoid the tearing and breaking of 

 the fiber. Sea island cotton grown in the interior of Georgia and 

 Florida practically meets the demands, but this cotton is so unpro- 

 ductive and difficult to pick that it is far from satisfactory. Again, 

 the regions suited to the production of sea island cotton, so far as is 

 now known, are of limited extent. What is urgently required is a 

 variety with fine, strong lint, from 1^ to If inches long, and with big 

 bolls, like the upland cotton, which open up well and are easy to pick. 

 Such a variety to be successful must be more productive than sea 

 island cotton on ordinary uj)land cotton soils. Several select liybrids 

 have been produced in the course of the experiments and bid fair to 

 meet the demand successfully if they can be bred into stable races. 

 It will require several 3'ears of selection before these are sufficiently 

 stable to put into the hands of growers, but it is believed that the 

 most difficult step has already been taken. Several cotton experts 

 who have examined these liybrids pronounce them excellent and most 

 promising productions. They are the best of several thousand hand- 

 bred hybrids of known parentage. 



Considerable attention has been given, in cooperation with the Office 

 of Seed and Plant Introduction, to establishing the growing of Egyp- 

 tian cotton as an industry in this country, and preliminary trials in 

 several locations have proved very satisfactory. A number of Egyp- 

 tian varieties have been tested from the standpoint of breeding, but 

 the results obtained were unsatisfactory, mainly because of unpro- 

 ductiveness. Last year experiments were started in the selection of 

 different varieties of Egyptian cotton to increase productiveness, and 

 some of the selections grown the present year are very promising. 

 Patches of variety selections of Eg.yptian cotton from imported seed 

 are being cultivated in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, 

 and Texas, and tlie results already obtained show almost conclusively 

 that by a few years of careful selection the growing of Egyptian cot- 

 ton in this country can be established on a paying basis. 



Another important line of cotton breeding is the increasing and 

 improving of the quality of the fiber of our standard races of upland 

 cotton. During tlie present season experiments for the improvement 

 of several of our best races were inaugurated, and it is confidently 

 believed that the work can not fail to yield valuable results in a few 

 years. 



One of the most important phases of cotton breeding is the produc- 



