CHAPTER VI 



IMPROVEMENT OF COTTON BY SEED SELECTION 



THE careful selection of the best seed is 

 a matter of importance to the cotton 

 farmer. It has been a too common 

 practice to plant inferior mixed seed from the 

 gin or oil mill, no attention having been given 

 to seed selection. Tests show conclusively that 

 by selecting the best seed from the most desir- 

 able stalks the yield will be from 10 to 20 per 

 cent, more than where gin run seed, even of the 

 same variety, are used. At the present price 

 of cotton the loss to the farmer who plants poor 

 seed will be from $5 to $15 per acre. 



Cotton is a plant which is very susceptible to 

 improvement by seed selection, and can be 

 greatly modified in form and habit in a very 

 few successive crops. The bloom is large 

 and open and cross fertilization is constantly 

 taking place by means of insects and other 

 causes. The cotton plant sports easily and 



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