OTHER FARM CROPS 549 



varieties which make a long, fine, and silky staple when grown on 

 rich, damp, and alluvial soil, such as is found only along the larger 

 rivers, are of but little value when planted on the high and dry up- 

 lands. Some varieties respond much more quickly than others to 

 applications of fertilizers; some produce a moderate crop under al- 

 most any conditions, while others give an enormous yield when all 

 the surroundings are favorable, but fail miserably when planted on 

 unfavorable soils or with unfavorable climatic conditions. The rel- 

 ative prices of the lint from different varieties vary greatly from one 

 year to another. The yield in pounds per acre for the short-staple 

 varieties is always larger than for the long-staple sorts, though the 

 amount of this difference will vary greatly with the localities where 

 the crops are grown. In the hill regions the yield of the short-staple 

 varieties is always much the greater, and is often fully double that 

 of the long staples, and even on the lowlands of the southern portion 

 of the cotton belt, the region best suited to the growth of the long 

 staples, there is always a difference of yield in favor of the short 

 staples. The long-staple varieties need not only a rich soil, but the 

 best of care in cultivation, handling, and ginning, and require the 

 highest intelligence and skill for their proper management. 



Although some of the short-staple varieties are late in maturing 

 their crop, still there are varieties which do mature much earlier 

 than any of the long-staple varieties. In the southern portions of 

 the cotton-growing region, where the season is long, this is a matter 

 of little moment, out it becomes a point of the greatest importance 

 in more northern latitudes, where the season without frost is not 

 sufficiently long to mature any but the earliest ripening sorts. No 

 variety of cotton will be profitable to the planter if it does not have 

 a sufficiently long growing season in which to mature its entire crop, 

 and it is safe to conclude that the short-staple varieties will usually 

 be found the more profitable in that part of the cotton region north 

 of latitude 32. 



The character of every plant is fixed in the seed from which 

 it comes, and the peculiar vital force in each seed is determined to a 

 great degree by the conditions surrounding the parent plant. Hered- 

 ity plays an important part, but is not so strong as to wholly over- 

 come the modifying influences of climate, soil, and season when 

 these are acting in the same direction through generations. The 

 law of the survival of the fittest applies to cotton as elsewhere, and 

 when assisted by intelligence will soon develop in each region the 

 special type of plant best suited to that particular locality. 



Individual plants of any variety differ from each other so 

 widely that it is an easy matter to select certain ones which have 

 characteristics making them more desirable than are the majority 

 of those in the same field. An ideal plant should be vigorous in its 

 growth and wholly free from disease. The branches should be suffi- 

 ciently strong and rigid, so that when they are loaded with green 

 bolls they will not touch the ground. There is a great diversity of 

 opinion as to the relative productiveness of the "cluster" and the 

 "limbed" varieties, both styles of growth having their warm sup- 



