56 LUTHER BURBANK 



confidence in the progeny of the one best plant 

 in the field. 



However, the practical cotton growers have 

 thought that they have secured better results by 

 selecting several plants instead of depending on 

 a single one. 



The second year five hundred or more seeds 

 are selected from each plant for the next year's 

 planting. The second year's crop is examined 

 with great care to see whether the desired quali- 

 ties are being strongly transmitted. If such is 

 the case, several of the best plants are again 

 selected to furnish seed for a new planting. 

 Meantime the seed of the remainder will suffice 

 to plant a patch of about five acres in the third 

 year. 



The third year five hundred or more plants 

 will be grown of each of the individual selections, 

 and as many five-acre seed patches to produce 

 seed for general planting as there were indi- 

 viduals of the first year whose progeny was 

 considered worth propagating. 



In the fourth year there will be seed for gen- 

 eral planting from the five-acre seed patches of 

 the previous year. There will be several five-acre 

 seed patches from the specially selected indi- 

 viduals of the second year; and five hundred or 

 more plants of each of the individual selections. 



