COTTOtf -GROWING I6t 



preferably more, are scattered about the area. If more 

 than one kind is to be tested, parallel and adjacent rows 

 are used. Records are taken from these rows, showing 

 their flowering and boiling, and from similar parallel rows 

 of the ordinary field crop amongst which they are sown. 



In this way it is possible to obtain remarkably exact 

 comparisons when only a few ounces of seed are available, 

 and a very marked economy may be effected in the follow- 

 ing year when full field trials are undertaken, since not 

 only have the useless varieties been eliminated, but 

 valuable information about varietal peculiarities has 

 been obtained (Fig. 20). Thus the accidental failure of a 

 new variety can be distinguished from a real failure. 



Meanwhile there is the question as to whether it 

 is worth while attempting seed -breeding, and this is 

 problematical. Seed-supply is only worth doing when 

 it can be done very well, and a new country is rarely 

 suitable for refinements of this kind, although it may 

 be quite practicable to get minute data of the kind 

 we have discussed from the land near a residence. 



At the same time it would be well worth while attempt- 

 ing to make pure strains from the commercial varieties 

 which were most successful, ultimately replacing these 

 latter by them. 



The isolation of pure strains of cotton is another of the 

 many commonplaces which the public likes 



Pure-Strain t) enshroud in mys t e ry. There is nothing 

 Production. 



mysterious in the process ; it is almost true 



to say that no skill is required, nor any knowledge of 

 botany, nor even of cotton. The sole essential is cease- 



